Consumer spending sees first uplift since February

Consumer spending has seen an increase of 0.2 per cent year-on-year in August, first uptick in the measure since February, the latest data from Barclaycard has showed.

Spending on essential items grew 5.1 per cent, largely driven by supermarket shopping which was up 14.9 per cent.

In another promising sign, the number of fuel transactions returned to similar levels seen last year. However, lower prices contributed to fuel spend declining 13.3 per cent.

Pubs and bars have also enjoyed their first uplift since the start of lockdown, with year-on-year growth in transactions of 9.3 per cent.

The contraction on non-essential items continued, down 1.6 per cent, but this represented the smallest fall since the onset of lockdown.

“It’s encouraging to see the first uplift in spending after such a turbulent time for retailers. It seems the final throws of summer have spurred households to get out and about with clothing stores, pubs and bars welcoming growth for the first time since lockdown began,” commented Raheel Ahmed, head of consumer products at Barclaycard.

The data has also confirmed the trend of online shopping continuing, with supermarkets clocking a whopping 102.7 per cent year-on-year rise on the back of the popularity of online food orders.

Lockdown has also increased the shift towards online when it comes to meal times too. Takeaways and fast food saw their highest increase (20.7 per cent) since tracking began for this category in September 2019, while meal subscription services rose by 65.8 per cent.

“Months of lockdown has helped accelerate the trend towards digital, with surges in areas such as online ordering of takeaways and buying groceries online, meaning the road to recovery may still be a long one for bricks-and-mortar stores,” Ahmed said.