A new report from The UK Cards Association reveals the central role cards have played in our changing spending patterns over the past decade. There has been significant growth in spending using our plastic friends, from £270 billion in 2005 to £566 billion in 2014. Debit cards accounted for 58 per cent of these transactions in 2005, rising to 71 per cent in 2014. The research also finds a steep decline in spending at record shops (-71 per cent) and video stores (-49 per cent) as consumers moved to online streaming services, supported by increasing smartphone and tablet ownership. There were 1.3 billion online transactions in 2014, amounting to £119 billion. Around a quarter of all online transactions are now at entertainment websites, equating to eight per cent of all spending online.

Card spending in pubs reached almost £5 billion last year, compared to £1 billion in 2005. And supermarket card spending went from £51.2 billion in 2005 to £99.5 billion in 2014. At the same time, the average supermarket transaction fell from £31 in 2009 to £25 in 2014, as shoppers swapped the weekly shop for more frequent, more local visits.

Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, says: “These figures show for the first time how our spending patterns have changed and the central role payment cards have played in this. Today we think nothing of paying for a coffee and a sandwich with a contactless payment card or streaming films on a smartphone which is also enabled for mobile payments. This is so different to a decade ago when we carried more cash and shopped in high street stores. Even during the last recession, the use of cards as a proportion of overall spending continued to grow as customers recognised the convenience, ease and security of this method of payment. Cards are accepted in more places than ever before and with innovations such as contactless cards and digital wallets, this trend is sure to continue.”

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