The annual Holiday Spending Report from ACI Worldwide, a provider of digital payments solutions, reveals that, despite a challenging economic environment, the 2022 holiday shopping season exceeded projections. The report, released January 30, also charts a surge in use of mobile devices, digital wallets and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payment methods during the 2022 holiday season, as shoppers sought out cheaper, more convenient alternatives. From October through December 2022, e-commerce transactions saw a 21% increase, beating estimates by 6%.

“Consumers upped their spending this holiday season despite increasing economic pressures,” explained Basant Singh, head of merchant segment, ACI Worldwide. “While inflation accounted for much of the year-over-year rise in holiday spending, our data shows a steady uptick in transactions, with many consumers buying goods and services via mobile devices, and in many cases using digital wallets as a preferred payment method. We expect to see these trends continue in 2023.”

Data from ACI finds that shoppers actively sought out buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) options as a cheaper alternative to shipping and waiting for products to deliver. Transaction values for BOPIS increased by 18%, with the average ticket value (ATV) increasing by 26%, or $26.

ACI also noted that e-commerce shopping is becoming more secure. Fraud attempts decreased by 0.5% during the Q4 2022 holiday shopping season. Mobile fraud attempts saw a decline of 0.6%, and e-wallets saw fraud attempts declining by 0.8%. ACI said merchants are increasingly investing in better fraud management and fraud prevention capabilities, as many now look at fraud prevention as a revenue generator. The e-wallet category saw the biggest decline in fraud attempts as a result of added security measures by e-Wallet providers, such as  biometric authentication and encryption.