Brits indulging in ‘savvier grocery shopping’ as consumer confidence dips: Barclaycard

Grocery spending in June fell slightly with almost half of consumers seeking more value from their weekly shop while a third of them are cutting down on treats for themselves, reveals latest data by Barclaycard.

New data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, has revealed how Brits are changing their spending behaviour amid the cost-of-living squeeze.

Grocery spending in June fell -0.9 per cent year-on-year, with almost half of consumers (49 per cent) seeking more value from their weekly shop – an eight percent rise on the previous month (41 per cent). 

Of this group, nearly a third (32 per cent) have been cutting down on luxuries or one-off treats for themselves – six per cent higher than the proportion who said this in May (26 per cent) – while 27 per cent have been buying budget or own-brand goods over branded goods in supermarkets, states the report.

Brits are also using smaller basket sizes as a way of keeping better track of their budget throughout the month, and as a result end up shopping more often – while the value of grocery transactions fell compared to last year, the volume of transactions grew 6.1 per cent.

Also, many consumers are trying to do more of their cooking using basic ingredients, instead of relying on pre-prepared options. 

A third (32 per cent) say they are cooking or preparing more meals from scratch, instead of buying lunch, eating out or ordering a takeaway – a figure that rises to two fifths (40 per cent) for women compared to 25 per cent for men. This may explain why spending at restaurants was down -3.3 per cent compared to June 2021, although the category did see slight month-on-month growth (0.8 per cent), suggesting that some Brits are still keen to support the hospitality sector and eat out with friends.

With Brits feeling less confident about their ability to spend on non-essential items (48 per cent in June versus 54 per cent in May), many are turning to reward schemes to cut back on discretionary spending. 30 per cent are using loyalty cards and discount codes to get money off items – such as hot drinks, clothing and meals-out – with this behaviour more popular among women (35 per cent) than men (24 per cent).

Other shifts in buying behaviour mentioned in the report are forgoing holidays abroad, reducing energy and water consumption at home, reducing car travel as fuel costs rise, repairing, recycling and reusing clothes and accessories, cancelling subscriptions, dipping into lockdown savings and Making changes to money management.