Visa Consumer Spending Index November 2019

Visa's UK Consumer Spending Index dipped for a fourteenth consecutive month in November, with expenditure down by 2.0% year-on-year as ecommerce and store sales slipped back. However, the later timing of Black Friday this year meant that this key sales event was not included in the November period but was last year.

Spending volumes fell in all but one of the eight categories monitored. Clothing & Footwear (-6.1%) faced the deepest fall in spending, followed by Household Goods (-3.8%) and Recreation & Culture (-3.8%). Misc. Goods & Services (-3.5%) and Transport & Communication (-3.0%) also faced significant declines, while Health & Education (-0.5%) and Food, Beverages & Tobacco (-0.3%) fared relatively well.

But it was only Hotels, Restaurants & Bars that recorded growth, up by 3.9% in November, following a dip in the previous month for the first time since early 2011.

Visa Consumer Spending Index – November 2019

Source: Visa

Store spending has fallen for seven months in a row, with Face-to-Face expenditure down by 2.0% in November according to Visa.

But the later timing of Black Friday – which is predominantly an online event – hit ecommerce with a 2.6% drop in expenditure in the month, marking the quickest reduction since July 2012.

Visa Consumer Spending Index – Three months to November 2019

Source: Visa, (note – data not adjusted for seasonality)

It should be noted that Visa expresses growth in volume terms. Adjusting for inflation means Visa’s overall spending data was well ahead of the 4.9% drop in like-for-like sales reported by BRC-KPMG for November.

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