Credit card spend down year on year

The data reveals that while the total number of transactions made per regular card user has increased by one per cent over that time period, the value of transactions per card user has decreased.

Changes in the value of card spend per user:

On the up:

- Mail order up 8%

- Restaurants & bars up 4%

- Utilities up 3%

- Petrol stations up 2%

Going down:

- Hotels down 4%

- Supermarkets down 5%

- Clothing stores down 4%

- Airlines down 9%

- Department stores down 11%

- Travel agencies down 13%

- Sports & toy stores down 24%

The majority of the retail sector has seen decreases in the value of spend, resulting in an average reduction of 5 per cent per card user over the year. 

Sports and toy spending has been worst hit, with a massive 24 per cent reduction in the value of card spend per user over this period and clothes stores with a 6 per cent decrease.

Customer card spend on holidays also has decreased, with the amount spent on travel agencies down 13 per cent year  on year, airlines down 9 per cent and hotels down 4 per cent.

By contrast, people are still spending on little luxuries like eating out - restaurants and bars have seen a 4 per cent increase in value of spend per user. 

Mail order is also defying the downturn with the biggest increase in card expenditure of all, showing a 22 per cent uplift in the number of transactions per card user and an 8 per cent increase in the value of spend in this sector.

Callum Gibson, Managing Director at Santander Cards, commented:

"During times of austerity, you'd expect cut-backs to hit non-essential items like holidays and clothes, and our customer data supports this.

"However, while we've seen a drop in overall spend people are using their cards more - as demonstrated by the increase in number of transactions.

"Plus with cards like Santander's 123 credit card, customers are rewarded for their spending in supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations."