BARCLAYS: Here’s what people are spending their money on

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Barclaycard, Barclays’ credit card, gives the bank a wealth of information about consumers’ spending trends.

Barclays put that data to good use with a huge report on spending, which had three big insights that stood out.

Firstly, the clothing industry owes a lot of its growth last year to male consumers.

Here’s Barclays:

“We continue to be impressed with the growth within menswear (+24.3% y/y) especially after a very strong performance in September, October and November (+30.5% y/y, +21.5% and 20.5%, respectively) and in positive territory throughout 2015 despite the volatile weather.

And here’s the chart:

Barclays

Secondly, the new Star Wars film seemed to have a huge effect on UK cinema revenues. They were down 13% in November, rocketing up 11% in December.

Here’s what that looks like:

Barclays

And thirdly, the humble newsagent is having a bit of a comeback. For all the marketing might of big supermarkets, consumers are turning to the convenience of the neighbourhood store.

Here’s Barclays:

Looking at the “big four”, Kantar Worldpanel data shows that Tesco, Morrison and ASDA all reported negative total sales growth in the four-week period with disappointing share losses.

And here’s the key chart:

Barclays