Retail spending on credit cards has dropped by 5% per user in the last year, according to research from Santander.
Credit card spending on sports and toys was worst affected, dropping 24% in the 12 months to November 2011, while clothes spending was down 6%.
Customer card spend on holidays also has decreased, with the amount spent on travel agencies down 13% year on year, airlines down 9% and hotels down 4%.
However, mail order and discretionary spending on restaurants and bars experienced an increase, with mail order spending rising by 8% and restaurant spending going up by 4%.
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.”
Average credit card spending has fallen by 4% in the past 12 months. While the total number of transactions made per regular card user has increased by 1% over that time period, the value of transactions per card user has decreased.
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