Consumer Spending Grows in March
Press release from the issuing company
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend analysis for the full month of March 2012 compared to March 2011. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.
Year-over-year dollar volume growth was 8.7% in March, compared to February’s 8.9% growth. Mild temperatures and early Easter holiday spending drove retail foot traffic despite higher gasoline prices.
“The mild weather across much of the nation in March encouraged retailers to promote sales of spring merchandise, providing an additional catalyst to customer traffic,” said Silvio Tavares, SVP and division manager of First Data Global Information and Analytics Solutions, which publishes SpendTrend.
In March, PIN debit surged to yearly highs in dollar volume and transaction growth. As a higher percentage of taxpayers elected to have their tax refunds electronically deposited into their bank accounts this year, it appears they made more discretionary purchases with PIN debit cards instead of credit cards.
March Dollar Volume Growth | CHANGE | |
Credit | +5.7% | |
Signature Debit | +8.4% | |
PIN Debit | +14.6% | |
Check | -2.6% | |
Note: All transactions are same-store growth. |