Super Bowl Weekend Spending

"We expected that supermarkets and electronics stores would see the largest increases in spending as consumers stock up on chips, dips, beer and flat-screen TVs," said Wayne Best, senior vice president, business and economic analysis, Visa USA. "What's interesting is the rather dramatic rise in spending in the jewelry and floral retail categories. That may suggest consumers are trying to get an early jump on shopping for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, or perhaps they're feeling guilty about spending a lot of time watching football and are planning peace offerings to their loved ones."

According to a review of historic Visa data, jewelry stores and florists experienced more than a 30 percent increase during Super Bowl weekends in 2005 and 2006 compared with other weekends. Traditionally, consumers have been known to spend more at supermarkets, wholesale club warehouses and electronics stores on Super Bowl weekend than they do on other weekends before and after the big game.

Purchase Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) in the United States totaled more than $7.2 trillion in calendar year 2006, with general-purpose payment cards capturing about one-third of that total. Spending on Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid products represented nearly 17 percent of total Purchase PCE. That means $17 out of every $100 spent by consumers was on a Visa-branded card.