A new study has found that consumers have £58bn spent on entertainment over the last decade, 60% more than in 2001, as we nearly doubled our spending in restaurants and cafes.
However, according to the report, The Way We Pay, from the Payments Council, pubs and bars have lost out in real terms, with consumers spending just 7% more on going out for a drink over the 10 years.
Entertainment spending outstripped the growth in consumer spending by over a quarter, with spending on restaurants and cafes up 102% and spending on cinema and shows up by 63%.
Adrian Kamellard, chief executive of the Payments Council, said: “Over 3/4 of our entertainment tickets were bought in cash in 2001, but now just over half are paid for that way. Being able to buy and reserve tickets online with a card has spurred the huge change in the way we buy our tickets.
“Pubs and bars by contrast are struggling to compete for our time and money. We are spending less, in real terms, on going out for a drink though these outlets have caught on to the need to accept cards. As late as 2001, £90 in every £100 spent in a pub or bar was waved at the staff in cash while the customer waited to be served. Debit cards accounted for just £3. Thanks to chip and PIN, a piece of plastic is tapped impatiently instead, and £23 in every £100 now goes on a card.”
Supermarkets have continued to grab share from up and down the high street and we now spend 58p in every retail pound in them today, up from 46p 10 years ago.
The report found that debit card spending has risen almost fourfold since 2001.
It said: “We still make a lot of very small cash transactions (three out of five of our one-off payments) but since 91% are under £25, contactless payment technology which has started to become a more familiar sight at shop tills and on our cards could revolutionise how way we pay.”
The study forecast that by 2021, consumer spending will be roughly 45% higher, but the use of cash is expected to have fallen 1%. It said that cards may be in decline by then too, as consumers adopt new payment technologies such as through mobile phones.
Kamellard said: “We scarcely notice the steady changes in the way we pay, yet someone in their thirties today will see more change in their lifetime than in the entire history of money. Even recent innovations such as payment via a mobile phone, which 10 years ago some felt to be science fiction, will soon be commonplace. The 2000s were the decade of the debit card.
“The 2010s are likely to be the decade of the mobile phone. Just as we can’t imagine how we ever did without the internet, many people will soon wonder how we used to be so dependent on cash and cheque. Twenty years from now even cards may seem archaic.
“The quiet revolution in payments has enabled the creation of whole new industries such as e-shopping, it has changed our behaviour, and it has reduced transaction costs, and increased the speed and efficiency with which we can all pay each other. The next ten years will see even faster change. It’s easy to imagine a future where we merely pat our pockets for our keys and phone. The wallet could become a historical curiosity.”
