Despite lower year-over-year gas prices and reduced year-over-year
sales in certain merchant categories, overall spending growth via
electronic payments like debit cards, credit cards and mobile payments
saw a 4.8 percent increase year-over-year from the fourth quarter (Q4)
2017 to the fourth quarter (Q4) 2018, according to a new analysis from
the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) and The Strawhecker Group
(TSG).

The ETA/TSG U.S. Spending Snapshot, released today at
TRANSACT, the global trade event for the payments technology industry,
found that the 4.8 percent year-over-year growth in Q4 2018 paced
slightly behind Q4 2017’s year-over-year growth of 5.1 percent.

“The final quarter of 2018 continued to bring strong growth to spending via electronic payment methods,” said Jared Drieling, Senior Director of Business Intelligence at TSG. “Though the period’s lower gas prices certainly had an effect on overall spending, spending volume via electronic payments continues at a healthy pace.” Read more.

See the Snapshot