First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend analysis for the full month of May 2012 compared to May 2011. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.

May’s same-store dollar volume growth increased 7.0% year-over-year, up from April’s growth of 5.7%. Although consumers continued to spend at a healthy clip early in the month, activity did slow as the month progressed. Transaction growth in May held fairly steady at 5.9%.

Consumers were more cautious with spending in discretionary categories in May. Industries such as hotels and restaurants saw significantly slower dollar volume growth in May compared to April. Overall year-over-year average ticket growth was 1.0% in May, up from April’s -0.1% growth. In May, credit dollar volume growth surged to 8.2% past April’s growth figure of 5.8%.

“Overall May card spending growth was healthy but there is reason for caution. During the month we saw consumers reducing the growth of their discretionary spending at retail merchants and increasingly resorting to credit for necessities,” said Silvio Tavares, SVP and division manager of First Data Global Information and Analytics Solutions, which publishes SpendTrend.