London, 21 March 2016 – Visa Europe today launches “Cashfree and Proud” on 21 March, a new campaign telling cardholders they can make a Visa contactless payment with confidence and feel liberated from the need to carry cash.
The campaign, which runs in the UK from March to May, recognises and harnesses that sense of achievement people feel when they begin to use contactless and realise that the
• Household spending increases +2.2% year-on-year in February • Sharp rise in spending on Hotels, Restaurants & Bars (+13.6%) and Recreation & Culture (+9.7%), while expenditure growth reaches 13-month high across Food & Drink (+4.8%) retailers • E-commerce on upward trajectory as growth improves to +6.3% on an annual basis
Visa Europe today announces the expansion of the Visa Europe Payment Tokenisation Service (VEPTS) to enable financial institutions and others to integrate tokenisation into services such as mobile payment apps, e-wallets, and card on file payment options.
Headline findings: • Consumer spending rose +2.7% on an annual basis in January, the highest growth rate since May 2014 • Clothing & Footwear surged +5.0% from a dip in December, thanks to cold weather and January sales • High Street spending bounced back to an eight-month high
• Consumer spending increases solidly in December (+2.3% year-on-year), rounding off 2015 as the second strongest year since 2008 • Sharp rise in e-commerce spending (+7.4%), but face-to-face spending is broadly flat (-0.1%) • Growth led by Hotels, Restaurants & Bars (+8.1%), Household Goods (+4.9%) and Recreation & Culture (+4.8%)
-More than 37 million transactions will take place on Wednesday 23rd December, up 10% on 2014 -Shopping will peak in the lunch hour break between 1pm-2pm, with 3.2 million transactions set to take place -Across the whole day, more than £1 million will be spent on Visa cards every minute, rising to nearer £2 million every minute in the peak hour
Headline Findings •Modest increase in consumer spending in November (+1.1% on the year) •Expenditure continues to rise solidly in e-commerce (+4.1%), but declines on the high street (-1.5%) •Hotels, Restaurants & Bars, Recreation & Culture and Clothing & Footwear see strongest increases in spending during November
Swatch SA and Visa Inc. together with Visa Europe have signed an agreement giving eligible Visa cardholders in the U.S., Switzerland and Brazil the ability to tap and pay with Swatch’s new "pay-by-the-wrist" watch, SWATCH BELLAMY. Slated to launch in early 2016, SWATCH BELLAMY can be used globally, anywhere contactless, NFC-based (near-field communications) Visa payments are accepted.
Visa Europe today unveiled the new Visa / Apple Pay “Ready” campaign to run across broadcast and social media during the coming two months.
Black Friday: o £721m forecast to be spent online on Visa cards, peaking between 18:00 and 19:00 (the commuter hour) – spend up 17% on 2014 and 61% on 2013 o £1.19bn forecast to be spent face to face on Visa cards, peaking between 13:00 and 14:00 – spend up only 4% on 2014 but 20% on 2013 Cyber Monday: o £629m to be spent online – spend up 17% on 2014 and 45% on 2013
Three major trends shaping the future of retail identified by the report are outlined below: 1. Customers want personalised shopping experiences across all touch points 2. There is growing demand for social shopping experiences 3. Mobile technology has the potential to bridge the gap between online and offline retail experiences
Headline findings:
Consumer spending increases at fastest annual rate in three months (+2.1%)Majority of spending categories see increased expenditure, led by Hotels, Bars & Restaurants and Recreation & Culture (+10% and 5.3% respectively)Renewed increase in spending on the high street as online expenditure continues to rise solidly
Kevin Jenkins, Managing Director UK & Ireland
