E-commerce sales hit a record high this holiday season

Online shopping dominated this holiday season, reaching a new all-time high, according to a first look at this year's figures from Mastercard.

E-commerce sales soared by 18.8% this year compared to 2018's holiday season and overall holiday retail sales also increased by 3.4%, the report, released Thursday, found.

"E-commerce sales hit a record high this year with more people doing their holiday shopping online," Steve Sadove, a senior adviser for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks, said in a statement announcing the findings.

“Due to a later than usual Thanksgiving holiday, we saw retailers offering omnichannel sales earlier in the season, meeting consumers’ demand for the best deals across all channels and devices," Sadove added.

The report excluded car sales but looked at overall holiday spending trends across all payment types between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24.

The report found that customers are increasingly turning to e-commerce options over the holidays, and this year online sales totaled 14.6% of holiday retail. E-commerce growth has steadily climbed over the past few years -- with an 18.8% growth rate compared to 2018, when the growth rate was 18.4%.

Approximately 24.5% of holiday shopping on Cyber Monday was online versus 15.4% on Black Friday.

Separately, the National Retail Federation estimated that "Super Saturday," or the last Saturday before Christmas, was the biggest shopping day of the year, with an estimated 147.8 million U.S. consumers taking part in the last-minute rush, both in store and online.