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Barclaycard reveals 2020 consumer spending winners and losers – florists bloom

Barclaycard has been totting up the winners and losers in UK consumer spending through 2020 – overall it’s down 7.1% on 2019 – with some interesting beneficiaries.

But the bad news first (it’s 2020 after all) Restaurants were down 47% and bars and pubs 36.8%. Department stores fell 17.2% and clothing stores 15.6%.

But the winners were:

Local: spending at food & drink specialist stores including butchers and bakers rose by 28.6%.

Boxsets and games consoles increased in popularity with spending on digital subscriptions and electronics up 31.5% and 10.8% respectively

Takeaways online surged 49.1% and services such as meal subscriptions grew by 62.4%
Boom in home improvements

Home improvement & DIY caught up when non-essential stores opened in June, with overall growth of 9.8%. Furniture stores grew 5.3%. Sports & outdoor retailers grew 7.2%

Florists bloomed, up 22.7%, spending on hobbies and crafts grew by 9.8%, vets and pets saw a 10.7% uplift. Aided by those £3500 cockapoos perhaps.

Barclaycard head of consumer products Raheel Ahmed says: “2020 has accelerated many trends. E-commerce has seen huge growth, working from home has meant many are shopping more locally and experiences within the home, such as virtual work outs have become the norm. Spending within the retail, travel and hospitality sectors has been acutely impacted.

“However, we have also seen many businesses become more agile and move online and the demand for online groceries, digital entertainment and subscriptions has been huge. Home improvement, DIY & gardening have also seen a boost, as we all spend more time at home and near our local communities.”

Moderately encouraging – let’s see how much of it lasts.

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