‘Britons spending more on gas and convenience stores’

Consumers are spending 59 percent more on gas and in convenience stores as compared to a year ago, states a new study, claiming that this spending increase is most pronounced among middle income consumers.

According to Shopping Behaviour Index published by Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, consumers are making more shopping trips and spending more per trip, but buying fewer items. Consumers are starting to make trade-offs across channels, with more discretionary channels like home improvement and beauty seeing the biggest decline in units across income levels, states the report.

While consumers are spending 59 percent more in gas and convenience stores than a year ago, they are doing so 23 percent more at quick service restaurants (QSRs) and 21 percent more in Club stores, states the report, adding that increases spending is done by middle income consumers (+64 percent vs YA) and low income consumers (+63 percent), partly due to rising gasoline prices.

Consumers have returned to in-store shopping, while continuing to shop online, states the report, citing that total in-store spending is up by 23 percent vs YA, with the highest increase among low income consumers (+26 percent). Online spending remains consistently at or above 2021 levels. 

In addition to elevated spending, the number of shopping trips is growing in 2022, driven by a return to in-store shopping and out-of-home dining. While all channels are elevated, spend per trip at gas and convenience stores is 34 percent higher than a year ago, due in part to the rising cost of gasoline, which is included in c-store spend per trip data. 

Similar to other channels, liquor channel sales (+20 percent) and spend per trip (+20 percent) are elevated vs YA, but Liquor is one of only two channels (along with QSRs) to show consistent increases in units per trip, indicating that consumers are increasing their alcohol purchases, rather than an inflationary trend.