And it was pretty massive. According to (link), Americans spent massive and copious amounts of money over the holiday season, jumping more than 4% since 2011. Yes, in fact, it was the biggest jump since that time period according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, who, monitors spending during retail hot-seasons every year.
The Wall Street Journal reports that, ehum, now people are returning their items in droves however. WSJ notes that $90billion in returns have already come to be, and, the number is expected to rise.
One big winner? Amazon. According to the Wall Street Journal, over the holiday season (when it first kicked off) Amazon was raking in more than 4m new Prime members almost weekly.