Holiday Shopping 2014: Credit Union Members Made Good Start to the Season

Merchants across the land are hoping for a robust season of holiday shopping. The final results are pending, but three companies serving the industry found that credit union members got things off to a strong start.

CUES Supplier member The Members Group found that credit spending increased 12.97 percent, and CUES Supplier member CO-OP Financial Services, and Saylent found that debit spending increased 6.71 percent from Thursday to Monday of Thanksgiving Weekend, compared to 2013.

Increase in Debit Card Spending

The finding of a 6.71 percent increase in debit card spending is based on transactions made from Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27, through Cyber Monday, Dec. 1. The results covered debit activity at 20 different merchant types nationwide by members of credit unions that use CO-OP for transaction processing. The year-over-year comparison was performed through an advanced analytics solution, CO-OP Revelation, powered by Saylent, and was conducted by Saylent’s FInsights360 consulting team. 

“Despite reports that shopping was down over this time period compared to last year, we found that debit card spending in fact increased across members of the credit unions we analyzed,” says Tyson Nargassans, president/CEO of Saylent.

Additional data emerging from the CO-OP and Saylent analysis includes:

• Comparing 2013 to 2014, credit union members increased their debit card usage and spend most at cosmetic stores, with a close to 108 percent increase in transactions and a 98 percent increase in spend.
• The following types of merchants also experienced strong growth compared to last year: family clothing stores, with a 27 percent increase in debit card transactions and a more than 21 percent increase in spend; and home furnishing retailers, with an 8 percent increase in debit card transactions and an increase in spend of more than 20 percent.
• People love their pets, increasing their debit card transaction volume by more than 13 percent and spending more than 20 percent more at pet stores than they did last year over this time period.
• The day with the largest increase in debit card spending compared to last year wasn’t Black Friday or Cyber Monday as one may expect, but rather Thanksgiving Day, with an increase of 14 percent. This uptick may be reflective of the broader retail trend of opening in the afternoon and evening on Thanksgiving.

Credit Spending Also Up

During the same Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday period, TMG found a 12.97 percent increase in credit spending for users who carry credit cards issued by TMG’s financial institution clients. TMG’s analysts attribute this to healthy growth in clients’ credit card portfolios and the fact cardholders used their credit cards an average 1.35 percent more this year compared to last year. The analysis is courtesy of the card processor’s proprietary analysis tool, ClearTrend. The tool can provide similar data on a per-FI basis for TMG’s processing clients.

“Our issuing partners are also interested in data that demonstrates an evolution in the way consumers are paying,” says Shazia Manus, CEO of TMG. “Are they increasingly turning to digital channels, and when they are, which platforms are providing the best experience? These are just a few of the critical data points our credit union and community-based financial institution clients rely on as they develop new payment strategies for the future.”

Additional data emerging from the TMG analysis includes:

• Electronic spending (shopping from online and mobile devices with a credit card) increased 24.7 percent year over year.
• Given the increase in electronic spending, it was not surprising to see Amazon leading all other merchants in credit card spending. Cardholders carrying credit cards issued by TMG clients initiated 32.58 percent more transactions with Amazon this year compared to 2013.
• Of the three days analyzed (Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday), Black Friday was the biggest day for credit card spending, accounting for 42  percent of all credit card transactions. On average, the transacting cardholder also spent more on Black Friday ($147.63) compared to Cyber Monday ($131.45) and Thanksgiving ($111.54).
• While many consumers may have been shopping for gifts, most appeared to be filling their pantries. Grocery stores and supermarket purchases comprised the greatest number of credit card transactions. This merchant category experienced a 21.83-percent increase over 2013.

More information on the services that yielded these results can found at www.themembersgroup.com (TMG), www.saylent.com (Saylent) and www.co-opfs.org (CO-OP).

Bill Prichard is senior manager/public relations and corporate communications for CUES Supplier member CO-OP Financial Services, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Prichard can be reached at bill.prichard@co-opfs.org and 800.782.9042, ext. 3450.