Though Black Friday spending was up this year for all card types, PIN debit transactions grew faster than credit and signature debit combined, and gift card sales rose even faster, according to data published this week by First Data Corp.
The Atlanta company's annual SpendTrend report for same-store sales on the so-called Black Friday, Nov. 27, said the number of PIN debit transactions rose 8.9% from a year earlier and their dollar value grew 7.6%. Likewise, the number of transactions using credit and signature debit rose 5.8% and dollar volume, 2.5%.
The number of gift cards activated on Black Friday rose 9.8% from a year earlier, and the dollar value loaded on the cards grew 17.8%, according to a Holiday Gift Card Performance Report by the unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Though consumers are spending more, "there is reason to remain cautious as our analysis suggests consumers remain very value-conscious and paid more often with their debit cards instead of credit cards," Silvio Tavares, First Data's senior vice president of investor relations and decision support, said in a press release Wednesday.
Though overall same-store sales grew 4.8% from the year earlier, the average transaction amount fell 1% across all merchant categories, First Data said. The grocery and hotel categories saw declines in both same-store sales and average transaction amount, and in the grocery sector more consumers indicated they used loyalty rewards for purchases every time than shoppers in any other category for which First Data published results.
