Mail-Order Sales Growth Beats Overall Retail

The Commerce Department reports that mail-order sales for the first nine months of the year rose by 9.3% to $49 billion, outpacing overall retail sales (excluding autos), which rose by 4.1%. Initial data from Visa USA indicate that mail-order business done with its credit cards will show a healthy increase over last year’s totals. Mail-order business typically is strongest during the early part of the holiday season, a spokeswoman said, but this year, consumers “are buying a higher amount of mail-order goods and it looks like they’re buying higher-priced items,” the spokeswoman said.