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First Data SpendTrend: Late Easter dampens March spending

April 11, 2014

Payment technology provider First Data Corp. has released its SpendTrend analysis for March 1–March 31, 2014, compared with March 2–April 1, 2013. Notably, the decline in prepaid card use exceeded the decline in check use for the period.

Dollar volume growth remained positive at 2.1 percent, but slipped from February’s growth of 2.4 percent.

Higher year-over-year tax refund values improved consumer confidence and job market gains also supported the growth. 

Retail spending growth and transaction growth of -0.9 percent and -1.8 percent marched lower versus February’s growth of -0.3 percent and -0.4 percent as a later Easter pushed holiday retail purchases and related foot-traffic into April — which also made for tough year-over-year comparisons.

Average ticket growth was 0.2 percent, in line with February’s growth. Lower year-over-year gas prices again subdued the overall growth as average ticket values at gas stations were down -4.1 percent, which marked the eighth-consecutive month of negative growth.

Krish Mantripragada, SVP of information and analytics solutions at First Data, summed up the month’s activity.

Despite the Easter shift to April this year, which negatively impacted year-over-year growth comparisons, spending growth in March remained healthy and positive. Gains in consumer confidence and the labor market indicate that economic prospects are brightening. We also saw credit spending growth decelerate slightly compared to prior months as higher year-over-year tax refund values deposited into bank accounts spurred debit usage over credit, and the later Easter pushed holiday-related discretionary spending out of March and into April.