According to a Mastercard report released on Monday, US retail sales increased 7.6% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, which is the majority of the holiday season, as steep discounts enticed deal-hungry shoppers.

The growth is greater than the 7.1% expansion Mastercard (MA.N) predicted in September, when it thought consumers would delay purchases until October in search of early savings.

However, due to consumer caution brought on by decades-high inflation, rising interest rates, and the prospect of a recession, this year’s holiday retail sales growth is lower than the 8.5% increase last year.

In order to clear out excess inventory and return inventories to normal levels during the holiday season, retailers in the United States like Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc offered significant discounts.

Over the course of the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, there was a significant increase in demand for everything from toys to electronics.

However, the Mastercard SpendingPulse report showed that sales of electronics fell 5.3% over a wider, roughly two-month period.

However, sales in the restaurant and clothing categories both saw increases of 4.4% and 15.1%, respectively, which contributed to the overall increase.

According to the Mastercard report, online sales increased by 10.6% during the period, which was slightly less than the 11% growth seen the previous year.

In the meantime, a separate Mastercard SpendingPulse report from late November showed that overall retail sales increased by about 11% during the cyber week.

Retail sales across all payment methods, both in-person and online, are tracked by Mastercard SpendingPulse. Automobile sales are not included.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)