Consumer shopping in November reversed a five-month decrease in the average transaction size, transaction processor First Data Corp. notes in its November SpendTrend report.
The overall average transaction size among the merchants First Data reviewed increased by 0.4% in November compared with the same month last year. It last rose in June, by 0.4%, but in each month since then it had dropped.
First Data would not disclose specific transaction information. It also would not say how many merchants were involved to produce the SpendTrend report.
The processor attributes the increase in the average ticket size to heightened consumer response to holiday shopping promotions, which also created an 8.1% growth in overall dollar volume spent last month from November 2009. The October year-over-year growth rate was 6.7%.
Within the retail sector, the top three merchant categories experiencing November dollar-volume growth were building materials at 12.7%, health and personal care at 11.7%, and clothing and accessory stores at 10.7%, according to the report.
Most other merchant types experienced lower growth rates. However, electronics and appliance merchants experienced a 4.7% decrease in sales volume compared with November 2009.
The number of transactions among the merchants reviewed grew by 7.7% in November; the total had grown by 6.9% in October compared with the same month last year, Atlanta-based First Data says.
Service merchants experienced the largest increase in November year-over-year transaction growth at 16.7%, followed by food and drinking establishments at 11.1% and petroleum stations at 9.5%.
Hotel transaction volume rose by 9.4%, travel by 5%, retail by 7.7% and supermarket by 2.6% last month compared with November 2009 totals.
Leisure merchants were the only merchant group to experience an overall decrease in transaction volume, which dipped by 5.2%, First Data says.
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