Consumers are spending less on eating out at restaurants, but some “insperience” categories - including takeaways and fast food - grew in October, the latest data from Barclaycard shows.
The findings, based on hundreds of millions of customer transactions and consumer research, saw restaurant spend contract by 11.3% and entertainment slip back into decline (-1.0%) in October.
Of the 52% of Brits who said they were cutting back on discretionary purchases, six in 10 (62%) said they were spending less on eating out at restaurants, and 37% were buying fewer cinema tickets.
Spend on takeaways and fast food - dubbed ‘insperience’ - grew 11.7%, with 50% of consumers swapping nights out for evenings in to save money this autumn and winter, the research suggested.
Spend in the overall hospitality and leisure sector grew 10.2% - the smallest uplift for the category since March 2021 - possibly due to the impact of rail strikes and rising living costs, while bars, pubs & clubs recorded a slight improvement (1.7%), the findings showed.
Overall, consumer card spending grew 3.5% year-on-year in October, higher than in September (1.8%) but well below the 8.8% rise in consumer inflation.
“Consumers continue to swap big nights out for cosy evenings in as they reduce their discretionary spending, while health & beauty and home improvements enjoy a little boost,” Esme Harwood, director at Barclaycard, said.
“With the festive season around the corner, we’re likely to see further cutbacks as Brits reign in their Christmas spending. Consumers are adopting a restrained approach to festivities, reaching for pre-loved gifts and setting spending limits to manage their costs during this traditionally expensive time of year.”
