Visa Consumer Spending Index August 2020

Spending continued to recover in August as restrictions eased, with overall expenditure rising by by 4.7% year-on-year in the month according to Visa’s consumer sending index. This marked the fastest growth rate since February 2010 and followed a 2.2% increase in the previous month.

Online continued to drive growth, with ecommerce spending up by 13.4% in August, following a record high in July as declines in face-to-face spending eased to -0.7%.

Visa Consumer Spending Index – August 2020

Source: Visa

Volumes increased in five of the eight broad sectors monitored in the month. ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ and staycations contributed to Hotels & Restaurants returning to growth (+5.3% year-on-year). This supported a robust recovery in Clothing & Footwear (+9.7%), rising at the quickest pace for almost a decade.

Meanwhile, Food, Beverages & Tobacco (+20.1%) and Household Goods (+19.6%) continued to be the best performing categories.

The negative performance of Transport & Communication (-13.8%) continues to reflect the cultural shift to working from home, which is disrupting commuting. Elsewhere, both Health & Education (-8.3%) and Recreation & Culture (-2.9%) posted a sixth consecutive month of decline.

Visa Consumer Spending Index – Three months to August 2020

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 is broadly in line with sales data reported by the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.

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