Spring fever boosts consumer spending

Overall spending grew at +5.9% year over year in March, down from +7.4% in February, according to the latest SpendTrend^® from Fiserv report. Year-over-year transaction growth was also up +5.9%, down from +8.0% a month earlier.

SpendTrend provides a comprehensive look at patterns of actual consumer spending each month, aggregating U.S. retail sales data across more than four million merchant locations in all major retail verticals, plus services, travel and lodging, and food.

March 2024 highlights

Retail spending grew modestly at +0.8% in March. At +5.0% collectively, foot traffic was up in almost every retail category, while average ticket sizes fell -4.0% as consumers made cost-conscious product choices.

Grocery spending rose +5.8% year-over-year, well ahead of February's +3.9% pace. The growth was driven by foot traffic of +6.4% and a modest -0.5% decrease in average ticket size. Restaurant spending was also up year-over-year at +5.9%.

Leisure continued its double-digit growth at +18.4% and +32.2% transaction growth. Sports helped drive sportsbook activity, while warmer weather and spring break offered a boost to recreation spending. 

Download the March report to explore spending across nine industry verticals and nine retail subindustries. Key topics:

• Year-over-year spending and transaction growth/decline
• Average ticket size – overall, by sector and by payment type
• Transaction, spending and ticket size growth by payment type – overall and by sector
• Spending growth by region

All data is Fiserv proprietary data and includes only actual card-based forms of payment. SpendTrend^® from Fiserv is a macroeconomic indicator that reports aggregated year-over-year, same-store sales activity for card-based payments. SpendTrend does not represent Fiserv financial performance.

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