Good news for the consumer goods industry. Mastercard Inc has reported that shoppers spent over $800 billion during the season. Their report cites sales in stores and online between November 1 and December 24 as having risen 4.9%. This is the fastest year-on-year pace of increase since 2011.

This is certainly good news since most U.S. retailers have found that their sales are tumbling due to online stores like Amazon. Read all the details to learn more.