March 09, 2012 09:00 AM Eastern Time
Card Spending Growth Takes a Leap in February with an Extra Day*
ATLANTA--()--First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today released its First Data SpendTrend® analysis for the full month of February 2012 compared to February 2011. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.
“Warm weather and improving economic conditions contributed to better February sales for most merchant categories”
February’s overall year-over-year dollar volume growth was 8.9%, a healthy increase from January’s growth of 7.0%. Overall dollar volume growth continued its positive upward trend in February. Improving economic conditions provided consumers with more confidence and income to spend.
After posting negative year-over-year growth for the prior two months, average tickets returned to positive territory in February with growth of 0.9%. PIN debit posted record highs and took the lead over all other payment types in February.
“Warm weather and improving economic conditions contributed to better February sales for most merchant categories,” said Silvio Tavares, SVP and division manager of First Data Global Information and Analytics Solutions, which publishes SpendTrend.
Feb. Dollar Volume Growth | CHANGE | |||
| Credit | +7.6% | |||
| Signature Debit | +9.2% | |||
| PIN Debit | +11.7% | |||
| Check | -5.0% | |||
Note: All transactions are same-store growth. | ||||
For more information on First Data SpendTrend, visit www.firstdata.com/infoanalytics or call SpendTrend Customer Care at 800-430-0169. A supplementary podcast including further analysis of the SpendTrend February 2012 report is available here.
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*February growth figures have been normalized to account for the extra day in February 2012.