Travel more likely than other products to be paid for online

Travel more likely than other products to be paid for online

But nearly two thirds still pay for travel offline Continue reading

Nearly four in every ten pounds spent on travel is paid for online, according to research analysing UK credit cards spend.

But the value of online travel spend is still lower than that made in store and over the phone.

And The UK Cards Association also found that 54% of spending on flights is done through the internet, a higher proportion than the 37% of total travel spend made online.

Travel accounted for 7% of online card transactions but – because it is typically more expensive than other  purchases – it made up 13% of the total value of online payments.

Travel has the third highest average transaction value – at £173 – after hotels (£179) and financial services (£402).

It means travel is above the UK average for the proportion of card purchases made online. The national average over the last two years stands at 26%, up from 22% in 2014.

Across all sectors, 1.8 billion purchases were made online in 2016, an average of 150 million a month – up 38% from 1.3 billion in 2014.

The most transactions were seen in merchant sales within entertainment and financial services accounted for the highest value when its transactions were added together.

Online spending per household is higher in the UK than any of the other countries mentioned in the report. Figures from 2015 showed that a typical British household spent US$5,900 per year online – higher than Norway (US$5,400) and the U.S.A. (US$4,500).

Richard Koch, head of policy at The UK Cards Association, said: “Payment cards have driven this revolution, providing an easy and secure way to shop online, whether it is to buy an app for your phone or a sofa for your living room.”