Barclays news and archive

Consumer card spending increases 4.5 percent in April

The warm weather in the UK and the late Easter weekend boosted essential and non-essential spending in April, according to Barclays' monthly Consumer Spend report. Barclays reports that consumer card spending grew 4.5 percent year-on-year last month, the biggest uplift since June 2023, and above the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.4 percent, for...

Retail

January storms boosted online and non-essential spending in the UK

Essential spending returned to growth in January after four consecutive months of decline, while wellness and social media trends drove discretionary purchases, according to new data from the Barclays Consumer Spend report. Despite falling consumer confidence in the UK economy, down five percentage points to 21 percent, spending on essential...

Retail|Beauty

Barclays says consumers adopted a “treat yourself” attitude in 2024

Looking back at 2024, Barclays said that essential spending in the UK grew just 0.9 percent, down from 3.9 percent last year, as British consumers prioritised spending on affordable treats and experiences. Barclays’ data reveals that non-essential spending increased 1.9 percent, as consumers’ strong appetite for “little luxuries” boosted health...

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Business

Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour to provide nearly 1 billion pound boost to the UK economy

New data from Barclays reveals that Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated ‘Eras’ tour will provide a 997-million-pound boost to the UK economy, as Swifties are expected to fork out 848 pounds on average to see the singer at one of the 15 UK tour dates. The Barclays ‘Swiftonomics’ report shows that fans attending the tour in the UK will spend the...

Retail

Consumer card spending growth flatlined in March

Non-essential spending growth hit an 18-month low in March in the UK, as a new report from Barclays shows that consumer card spending growth flatlined, on par with February’s modest 1.9 percent uplift and significantly less than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.8 percent. This was due to a slowdown in non-essential spending, which saw its...

Retail

December consumer spending grew but retail spending stalled

Consumer card spending grew 2.3 percent year-on-year in December 2023, less than the latest Consumer Prices Index inflation rate of 4.2 percent and lower than November’s growth of 2.9 per cent, according to the latest data from the Barclays Consumer Spend report. While entertainment and travel bookings thrived, Barclays said that retail spending...

Retail

Consumer spending bounced back in November

Seasonal shopping boosted retail in November, with consumer card spending increasing by 2.9 percent, as British consumer confidence to spend on non-essential items reached its highest level since April. The data from Barclays revealed that the high street enjoyed an uplift from early Christmas shopping and extended Black Friday sales in...

Featured

Retail

September’s sun “boosted” high street spending

Consumer card spending grew 4.2 percent year-on-year in September as the late summer sun boosted in-store spending across the UK, according to the latest Barclays report. September’s growth was less than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 6.3 percent, but higher than August’s growth figure of 2.8 percent, with spending on non-essential items...

Featured

Retail

High street spending slowed during rainy August

High street sales were hampered by wet weather in early August, reveals the latest consumer card spending index from Barclays, as fewer Brits visited shops. The report reveals that while consumer spending grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in August, it was noticeably lower than the latest CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers'...

Featured

Retail

Retailers are responding to rising prices with expanded recommerce offerings

New research by Barclaycard Payments has found that retailers have been introducing more “sustainable” ways to buy and sell products and services, as consumers become increasingly conscious over their spending. In its new report, the payment provider said that seven in 10 of the businesses surveyed were now offering recycling, renting, reusing...

Featured

Retail

Click-and-collect worth over 42 billion pounds in the UK this year

The click-and-collect economy will be worth 42 billion pounds in 2022 in the UK, representing 8.4 percent of the country’s total retail spending, according to research from Barclays Corporate Banking. The study ‘What’s in store for retail?,’ focused on retail businesses with more than ten employees, found that ‘hybrid’ shopping, which involves...

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Business

Responsible raises 6.6 million US dollars in seed round

Embedded re-commerce platform Responsible has secured 6.6 million US dollars of investment capital to expand its reach throughout Europe. The Belfast-based start-up, founded in 2021 by Irish entrepreneur Mark Dowds and Australian Mitch Doust, has developed a re-commerce technology solution called ‘Buy Back’ that can be added to a brand’s...