Online Card Spending 2014 - 2016

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 2

1. Introduction

Figures in this report are based on data reported to The UK Cards Association by UK merchant acquirers and covers card spending

within the UK made by consumers, businesses, the Government and overseas visitors. The figures do not include card payments made

to those online retailers who process their transactions overseas. In this report, online spending (e-commerce) covers card payments

made via the internet through devices such as PC, tablet, smartphone etc.

In just over two decades the internet has become an indispensable part of everyday life. A growing number of

consumers and businesses go online for shopping, banking, information and entertainment as online services tend

to be less time consuming, more convenient and often cheaper to use.

According to the Office for National Statistics, around 77% of adults bought goods or services online in 2016, up

from 53% in 2008. Shopping on the go using mobile devices is also becoming increasingly common with over half

of UK online sales made via smartphones and tablet devices in 2016, up from 26% in 2013. Recent figures indicate

that smartphones in particular are behind this current trend.

Exponential growth of online shopping (e-commerce) has been driven by strong consumer and business demand

and the increasing number and type of goods and services available. The public increasingly expects to access

services quickly and conveniently, at times and in ways that suit them.

In order to stay competitive, to keep up with the changing consumer preferences as well as to attract new buyers,

many merchants and industry stakeholders have been investing in innovations in the digital space offering

enhanced security, choice, convenience and consumer protection for online card payments.

2. E-commerce – key statistics

In December 2016 online spending accounted for

26% of total card expenditure, up from 22% in

December 2014.

The number of card purchases made via the internet

represented 12% of total card purchases, up from

11% two years ago.

Over the last two years e-commerce grew nearly

twice as fast as total card expenditure: 42%

compared to 23% for volumes, and 28% compared to

13% for values.

1.8 billion e-commerce purchases worth

£154 billion were made in 2016. Two years ago

these figures stood at 1.3 billion and £120 billion

respectively.

During 2016 an additional 1.7 billion e-commerce

purchases were made worth £44 billion at online

retailers who process their transactions overseas

(such as Amazon, Google, iTunes and others).

These figures are excluded from the above totals

and associated analysis.

E-commerce purchases and spending

January 2014 to December 2016

9

11

13

15

17

80

102

124

146

168

Jun 14 Dec 14 Jun 15 Dec 15 Jun 16 Dec 16

Val

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£ b

illio

ns

Vo

lum

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illio

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Volume Value

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 3

3. Spending online by merchant sectors

Shopping patterns differ considerably when comparing spending via the internet to that in-store. It is more

likely that consumers will visit a store for groceries, while music and films are mostly purchased digitally.

Just above a quarter of all e-commerce purchases (26%) are made on entertainment such as cinema and

concert tickets, takeaway orders and digital content (e.g. apps, books, games, music).

The mixed business sector also features strongly, accounting for just over a fifth of all purchases made online,

mainly driven by catalogues and department stores. In comparison, only 6% of all in-store purchases are made

in this sector.

The most popular high street destinations are merchants selling food and drink (including supermarkets and

off-licences), accounting for 41% of face-to-face purchases, while in the digital space groceries make up only

7% of purchases.

Proportion of card payments made in-store and online, by merchant sectors, by volume

The food and drink sector accounts for a quarter of all card spending made in-store, compared to 6% for

spending made via the internet.

The highest proportion of online spending by value is registered in the financial services sector, totalling 27%.

Only 5% of online payments are made in this sector.

Other services account for 25% of e-commerce spending, mainly driven by government services (such as

council tax or DVLA) and educational establishments (such as tuition fees).

As virtually all spending on automotive fuels and vehicle sales and services occurs in the face-to-face

environment these sectors are excluded from comparisons in this section.

Proportion of card spending in-store and online, by merchant sectors, by value

7%

41%

10%

9%

20%

6%

2%

5%

7%

5%

1%

1%

7%

5%

5%

1%

15%

6%

26%

21%

Food & Drink Other Retail Mixed Business Household Clothing Hotels Travel Financial Services Other Services Entertainment

6%

25%

7%

9%

6%

5%

4%

10%

4%

5%

1%

4%

13%

7%

27%

9%

25%

15%

7%

11%

Food & Drink Other Retail Mixed Business Household Clothing Hotels Travel Financial Services Other Services Entertainment

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 4

Online spending share within merchant sectors

Online shopping dominates within the services sector where 32% of total card spending and 19% of purchases

are made via the internet, while within the retail sector 13% of spending and 9% of purchases are online.

The highest proportion of e-commerce is registered within financial services where half of all spending is made

via the internet, mainly owing to online banking services and insurance.

Other services (38%) and travel (37%) were the other sub-sectors with pronounced e-commerce shares, driven

by spending on government services, education and airlines respectively.

In contrast, the online market for buying groceries was comparatively smaller – only 7% of total food and drink

spending occurred via the internet.

Merchants with the highest and lowest proportion of online spending

When drilling down within the merchant categories, catalogues registered the highest online spending share of

92%, followed by digital entertainment (80%) and timeshares (75%).

Similar to the vehicle sales & services sector and automotive fuels where virtually all spending takes place in

the face-to-face environment, the data also shows that for some types of merchants in-store shopping still

dominates, such as at laundry and cleaning, pubs and veterinary services, where online spending accounted

for just below 2%.

Highest merchant categories Online share Lowest merchant categories Online share

Catalogues 92% Pawn shops 1.4%

Digital entertainment 80% Laundry & cleaning 1.7%

Timeshares 75% Public houses 1.8%

Wire transfer money order 74% Veterinary services 1.9%

Security brokers and dealers 70% Bakers & dairies 1.9%

Government services 68% Employment agencies 2.1%

Concerts & entertainers 67% Funeral services 2.2%

Computer programming 66% Auto repair shops 2.6%

Cinema, theatre & dance 61% Wrecking & salvage yards 2.9%

Gambling 59% Luggage & leather goods 3.3%

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 5

4. Average transaction values

While the majority of card purchases still take place in the

face-to-face environment, the value of purchases made online

tends to be higher.

The average transaction value (ATV) for e-commerce

purchases (£85) is more than double the ATV for in-store

purchases (£38).

The number of e-commerce purchases has been growing at a

faster rate than spending, resulting in a substantial decrease

(£9) in the ATV, falling from £94 in 2014 to £85 in 2016.

Although debit cards account for 77% of card payments in the face-to-face environment, in the digital space

this proportion is 58%. Greater consumer preference to use credit cards for internet shopping can, in part, be

linked to additional payment protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. However, by value

the proportion of online debit card spending is higher compared to the face-to-face environment, with both

above 70%.

This difference is evident in the ATVs, with the ATV for debit card purchases online amounting to £102 as

opposed to £60 for internet spending on credit cards.

The ATV for retail spending online amounted to £47 while the average value of online purchases in the services

sector was £117.

Vehicle sales and services was the only merchant category where the average in-store transaction value (£194)

was considerably higher than that made via the internet (£80). Mixed business merchants registered a slightly

higher transaction values in the face-to-face environment (£33) in comparison to online sales (£24). In contrast,

all other merchant sectors recorded higher ATVs on digital sales.

Comparison of face-to-face and online ATVs by merchant sectors

£299

£194

£123

£85 £65

£54 £39 £36 £33 £28 £22 £19

£402

£80

£179

£153 £133

£173

£50 £62

£24

£69 £64

£23

£0

£90

£180

£270

£360

£450

ATV in-store ATV online

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 6

5. Industry developments

There have been a number of innovations in the e-commerce space by card issuers,

schemes, merchants, merchant acquirers and third party payment service providers,

offering enhanced security, choice, convenience and consumer protection. These

innovations range from technological solutions such as digital wallets, e-money accounts

and tokenisation, to those based on convenience such as ‘one touch’ payment confirmation

via retailer websites or links on popular social media sites. Marketing initiatives such as

Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as those by individual retailers, have also been

significant in the promotion of the digital channel.

Other factors driving online spending have been omni-channel merchants (high street

merchants with online platforms) offering services such as ‘click and collect’ and collection

lockers, which are secure lockers located at convenient locations such as train stations,

business centres and supermarkets.

A recent development, and an area of growing importance to card payments, is the increasing manifestation of

messaging formats (such as WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger) being fused with more established payment

types. These enable the user to send payments through messaging apps on their mobile devices.

Specialist online retailers and multisided platforms (such as AirBnB, eBay and Open Table) are also driving up

traffic, having significantly increased their presence in the market in recent years. These platforms form part of the

emerging ‘sharing economy’ space. Merchants in this area are typically hosted on mobile phone apps with

payments funded through embedded ‘in-app’ digital wallets, mostly linked to payment cards.

New payment service providers (such as Braintree, Ayden and Stripe) which offer open platforms and fully

serviceable APIs1 are also growing in importance. These new online acquirers are enabling new businesses to

emerge and build next generation products and services by making the process of paying online far more

seamless, rather than the traditional online form used by many retailers.

In future, card payments will increasingly become a deeply embedded feature in online payments, with the growth

in tokenisation in particular leading to the underlying card payments system being used in new and

innovative ways.

Most popular e-commerce shopping sites in the UK*

*Source: SimilarWeb Ltd.

1 API – the abbreviation of application program interface – a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. The API specifies how software

components should interact and APIs are used when programming graphical user interface components.

Website Category Website Category

ebay.co.uk General merchandise ikea.com Furniture

amazon.co.uk General merchandise boots.com Health and beauty

argos.co.uk General merchandise diy.com Home and garden

next.co.uk Clothing newlook.com Clothing

asos.com Clothing debenhams.com General merchandise

johnlewis.com General merchandise currys.co.uk Consumer electronics

marksandspencer.com General merchandise aliexpress.com General merchandise

Online Card Spending. 2014 - 2016 7

6. International comparisons

E-commerce is the fastest growing retail market worldwide, it has become an important tool for small and large

businesses, not only to sell to customers, but also to engage them. Globally, online markets are very different in

terms of maturity. North America and Europe are mostly mature e-commerce markets, which are evolving and

changing constantly, while South America and Asia markets are developing very dynamically, albeit from a much

lower base.

UK leads the way in Europe with the largest e-commerce market and, globally, with the highest online spending

per household. In terms of total value of online sales, the UK ranks as the third largest economy following China

and the United States.

Average online spending per household worldwide 2015* (US$ thousands)

*Source: GlobalData, Online Consumer Payments Analytics Survey