Shoppers were spending money up until the last minute, but holiday sales were nevertheless a disappointment. So says MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a report that tracks retail sales nationally.

SpendingPulse analyzed the electronics, apparel, e-commerce, and luxury sectors. All categories experienced a surge in growth on Black Friday, a lag in the middle of the holiday season, and a rally to the finish line. MasterCard’s report indicates that retail posted year-over-year growth of just 3.6 percent for the period amoung Black Friday and December 24.

“Overall, sales came in just above the lower end of the range we were expecting, maintaining the slower, modest growth we have been seeing all through the year,” Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors, said in a statement.

“Most industry observers had adjusted their sights down,” he went on to say, “but anyone who was looking for that holiday season to kick-start a new wave of growth would find these

numbers falling short of expectation.”

Electronics Surging

Even so, electronics sales opened the season with a surge of 15 percent growth on Black Friday. By the middle of the season, however, consumer spending on electronics was showing only a 5.8 percent gain by the same period in 2006. By the end of the season, overall growth was a moderate 2.7 percent.

A noteworthy observation, however, is that SpendingPulse views the electronics sector as encompassing a product mix of large appliances as well as consumer electronics, such as cameras, televisions, and software and hardware for gaming.

“It’s very likely that when you extract big appliances, that the consumer electronics sector provided a higher level of growth than we see in our view of that category,” McNamara said.

E-commerce the Strongest

E-commerce was the strongest category, easily outperforming all other categories covered by the SpendingPulse report. that channel enjoyed…

Orginal post by Top Tech News