Amber Randall, DCNF

Christmas sales saw a large boost this year, reaching their highest point since 2011, according to a report on U.S. retail sales.

Mastercard Spending Pulse, which tracks data on retail sales, found that sales in the America went up 4.9 percent from the beginning of November until Christmas Eve, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

“It started with a bang in the week leading up to Black Friday,” Sarah Quinlan, the senior vice president of marketing insights at Mastercard, told The WSJ. “Overall, this year was a big win for retail.”

Sales, which do not include car sales, reached 3.7 percent during the same time period in 2016. Online shopping also went up 18.1 percent during Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 of this year. People bought more electronics and other appliances this year, which went up 7.5 percent, while home additions also went up by 5.1 percent, the Mastercard report noted.

Quinlan said that Christmas falling on a Monday this year helped sales because it gave shoppers an extra day to purchase last minute gifts. She also pointed to a lower unemployment and a greater confidence in the market as a reason for a better holiday shopping season.

“It’s easy to see that 2017 will likely be a good year for retailers,” Quinlan told NJ.com “Unemployment is at 4.1 percent, wages are rising, consumers are confident. It is all playing out in the shopping picture this holiday season as retailers and gift recipients would want it to.”

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