U.S. retail sales rose 3 percent during this year’s expanded holiday shopping season powered by a pandemic-driven shift toward online shopping, a report by Mastercard Inc. said on Dec. 26. U.S. e-commerce sales jumped 49 percent in this year’s holiday shopping season, from Oct. 11 to Dec. 24, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report, underscoring the COVID-19 pandemic’s role in transforming customers’ shopping habits. Holiday e-commerce sales made up 19.7 percent of total retail sales this year, the data showed, noting that options such as buy online and in-store pickup, contactless technologies were key for retailers. The holiday shopping season can account for the majority of certain retailers’ annual sales, but the health crisis meant several retailers including Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., faced with capacity constraints in certain stores, rolled out their holiday promotions early. E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. also pushed back its annual summer promotional event to October, …