Visa Report: Early Holiday Spending Drives Big Jumps in Transactions

With a month to go until Christmas, holiday spending by consumers is driving double-digit increases in electronic transactions, according to the latest report from Visa USA, which is tracking spending on its cards each week from early November until early January. Total spending on all Visa-branded cards hit $23.1 billion for the week ended Sunday, Visa says, up almost 19% over the same week last year. Total transactions were 397.5 million, an increase of nearly 22%. Visa debit card volume, which includes both the signature-debit transactions and activity on the company's Interlink PIN debit network, scored particularly heavy gains. Spending on these products was $9.4 billion for the week, up 31.6%. Transactions totaled 240.2 million, a 30.3% rise. Visa credit cards racked up $11.6 billion in volume on 141.9 million transactions, increases of 9% and 8.5% respectively over the same week in 2003. The average sale on credit cards was $82, while the average ticket on debit was $39. The remainder of Visa's volume came on commercial card products. Two high-growth channels also recorded big gains. Spending on the Internet reached $2.1 billion for the week, a jump of 33.7% over the same week last year, while e-commerce transactions reached 26.6 million, a 25.8% increase. Spending at fast-food restaurants, a closely watched segment considered by many to have high potential for conversion of cash to electronic transactions, rose 58.2% for the week, to $270 million, while transactions grew fully 77.1% to 23.7 million. The average ticket for online sales was $80; that for fast food, $11.