Consumer Card Spending

Supermarket spending saw smallest rise in January

Barclaycard data shows Brits plan to spend more on Valentine’s Day this year.

Supermarket spending saw its smallest rise (13.6%) since before the onset of the pandemic, according to new data from Barclaycard. The research shows that one reason for the slow growth was consumers shifting their spending to food and drink specialist retailers, such as butchers, bakeries and recipe box services, which grew 67.3%.

The data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, reveals that spending on essential items grew 10.4%, the smallest rise in nine months. This can largely be attributed to fuel spend seeing its slowest rate of growth (6.7%) since October 2021, as Plan B Covid restrictions throughout most of January meant Brits travelled less and worked from home.

Overall consumer card spending rose 7.4% year-on-year in January – the smallest uplift since April 2021. In addition, the data shows that 89% of Brits say they’re concerned about the impact of rising inflation on their household finances, while 30% say they expect increasing household bills to affect the amount they spend on discretionary purchases.

Barclaycard reveals that 28% of Brits plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day, with this year’s budget set to increase from an average of £63 during lockdown in 2021, to an average of £77 this year. Those celebrating will be looking to spend this increased budget eating out at a restaurant (30%) and buying a gift for their partner, such as chocolates or jewellery (29%).

Jose Carvalho, Head of Consumer Products at Barclaycard, said: “The lifting of Plan B restrictions should also provide a welcome boost to many sectors, as workers travel back into the office and socialise over post-work drinks, while businesses will likely start to see the benefits of increased inbound tourism on retail sales too.”