More than half of UK spending now online after pandemic, says Lloyds Bank
More than half of all UK spending has now shifted online thanks to the Covid pandemic and physical payments have shifted one kilometre closer to people’s homes, according to Lloyds Bank.
A new study by the bank also found that ATM and branch withdrawals plummeted by 33 per cent over the past year.
Debit card data from Lloyds Bank showed that 55 per cent of of its customers’ money was spent online in January 2021, compared to 38 per cent in 2020.
The median distance travelled to spend in person has also decreased from 3.9 kilometres to 2.7 kilometres, according to the new figures.
The hospitality sector has been one of the biggest victims of Covid-19 and the attached restrictions, with the study finding a 26 per cent drop in money spent in restaurants.
Supermarkets saw a 47 per cent surge in spending in March 2020 as panic buying gripped the country, with the figure still 22 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels now.
Lloyds’ head of payments Gabby Collins said Covid-19 had “fundamentally changed where and how we have spent our money over the last 12 months”.
“The most visible effects of non-essential shops, pubs and restaurants being closed is the huge shift to online,” she said.
“Looking ahead, as the vaccine continues to be rolled out across the UK, those businesses who have welcomed few, if any, visitors will be willing a smooth opening by June.
“We know that demand is there, spending on holidays alone spiked 109 per cent on the announcement of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.”