Holiday sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 rose 2.3 percent from the same period the year before, according to preliminary data from MasterCard Inc 's Spending Pulse unit. That marks improvement versus the 0.7 percent gain a year earlier.

The figures are based on items like clothing and electronics that typically might be given as gifts and exclude spending on groceries, restaurants, gasoline and automobiles. Overall, total retail spending during the period, including all sectors, rose 3.5 percent.

SpendingPulse measures total U.S. retail sales across all payment forms, including all cards, cash and checks

Jewelry children's apparel and home furnishings were top performers. Apparel overall experienced only modest growth, with while luxury and electronics were flat, according to the group.  Online retail sales experienced double-digit growth.  

Last year’s holiday season was marked by steep declines due to superstorm Sandy in the Northeast, a region that accounts for more than a fifth of the nation's retail sales, MasterCard said.

"The holiday shopping results are in line with expectations, but several factors impacted retail sales this year," said Sarah Quinlan, the senior vice president of market insights for MasterCard Advisors, which produces the monthly SpendingPulse report. "Having six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as bad weather in some parts of the country for the final two weekends of the season clearly had an effect on sales. Yet, holiday sales were a clear improvement over last year's weaker numbers. One clear bright spot is that many consumers who were stuck indoors turned to online shopping to check items off their list and that helped drive ecommerce growth."

A separate analysis by MasterCard Advisors also showed that larger retailers performed slightly better than their smaller counterparts this year, likely due to the increased sales and promotions starting early in the season.