Transaction Trends

Consumer spending via electronic payments got a big boost in the second quarter of 2018, a new spending snapshot from ETA and The Strawhecker Group has found. Strong year-over-year growth in retail and discretionary spending categories drove a 6.9 percent increase in U.S. consumer spending, according to the snapshot.

The bump was particularly notable in certain retail categories. Year-over-year spending on gas grew 17.8 percent versus 9.8 percent growth in the second quarter of 2017, and retail spending grew 5.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018, versus 3.8 percent growth in the second quarter of 2017. The only merchant category tracked that did not see year-over year quarterly growth was electronics. Certain regions of the country surpassed the national average. The Rocky Mountains, for example, experienced 8.8 percent year-over-year volume growth.

“The strong U.S. labor market is powering consumer confidence, which is turn is driving an increase in spending,” said ETA CEO Jason Oxman in a press release about the report. “We’re excited for the opportunity to partner with The Strawhecker Group to provide powerful data on consumer spending. As consumers have access to innovative options to pay at the point-of-sale, we expect the growth of electronic payments for consumer spending to keep pace.”

The ETA/TSG U.S. Spending Snapshot highlights retail spending growth over Q2 2018 and was released at ETA’s Strategic Leadership Forum last week. The Snapshot will be released quarterly and uses the Strawhecker Group’s Acquiring Industry Metrics (AIM) platform. AIM spans over 3.7 million U.S. merchants with over $1 trillion of total annualized dollar volume and provides a comprehensive look at same-store sales and consumer spending behavior by merchant categories and geographic breakdowns.