Press release -

Consumer spending decline continues as March rounds off worst quarter in over five years

Mark Antipof, Chief Commercial Officer at Visa, commented:

“The negative impact that the ‘Beast from the East’ had on UK economic activity last month has been widely reported, but this doesn’t entirely explain March’s lacklustre consumer spending. We are in the midst of a dip in consumer confidence and this – coupled with other economic factors – is causing shoppers to continue to restrain themselves.

"High street sales suffered once again, however it is also noteworthy that e-commerce spend fell for the first time in 10 months, and by its fastest rate since 2012. That said, it is too early to read a great deal into this year-on-year decline, which should be viewed in the context of high growth rates in early 2017.”

Topics

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere.

As the world moves from analogue to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce.

For more information, visit (www.visaeurope.com), the Visa Vision blog

(vision.visaeurope.com), and @VisaNewsEurope

Contacts

European press office

Press contact 0207 795 5336

Related content

Visa UK CSI - Consumer spending has weakest start to the year since 2012

Headline findings: Consumer spending: falls -1.1% year-on-year, declining for ninth time in ten months Face-to-Face spend: -2.5% on the year, while eCommerce rises only slightly (+0.2%) Recreation & Culture sees its greatest decline since April 2010

About Visa Europe

Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by member banks and other payment service providers from 38 countries.

Visa Europe is at the heart of the payments ecosystem providing the services and infrastructure to enable millions of European consumers, businesses and governments to make electronic payments. Its members are responsible for issuing cards, signing up retailers and deciding cardholder and retailer fees. Visa Europe is also the largest transaction processor in Europe, responsible for processing more than 18 billion transactions annually.

There are more than 500m Visa cards in Europe, while €1 in every €6 spent in Europe is on a Visa card. Total expenditure on Visa cards exceeds €2 trillion annually, with €1.5 trillion spent at point-of-sale.

Visa Europe is an independent business with an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual licence to use the Visa brand in Europe. Visa Europe works in partnership with Visa Inc. to enable global Visa payments in more than 200 countries and territories.

For more information, visit www.visaeurope.com and @VisaEuropeNews

Visa UK
Visa UK
Visit our other newsrooms