Barclays news and archive

Consumer card spending growth flatlined in March

Non-essential spending growth hit an 18-month low in March in the UK, as a new report from Barclays shows that consumer card spending growth flatlined, on par with February’s modest 1.9 percent uplift and significantly less than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.8 percent. This was due to a slowdown in non-essential spending, which saw its...

Retail

December consumer spending grew but retail spending stalled

Consumer card spending grew 2.3 percent year-on-year in December 2023, less than the latest Consumer Prices Index inflation rate of 4.2 percent and lower than November’s growth of 2.9 per cent, according to the latest data from the Barclays Consumer Spend report. While entertainment and travel bookings thrived, Barclays said that retail spending...

Retail

Consumer spending bounced back in November

Seasonal shopping boosted retail in November, with consumer card spending increasing by 2.9 percent, as British consumer confidence to spend on non-essential items reached its highest level since April. The data from Barclays revealed that the high street enjoyed an uplift from early Christmas shopping and extended Black Friday sales in...

RetailFeatured

September’s sun “boosted” high street spending

Consumer card spending grew 4.2 percent year-on-year in September as the late summer sun boosted in-store spending across the UK, according to the latest Barclays report. September’s growth was less than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 6.3 percent, but higher than August’s growth figure of 2.8 percent, with spending on non-essential items...

RetailFeatured

High street spending slowed during rainy August

High street sales were hampered by wet weather in early August, reveals the latest consumer card spending index from Barclays, as fewer Brits visited shops. The report reveals that while consumer spending grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in August, it was noticeably lower than the latest CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers'...

RetailFeatured

Retailers are responding to rising prices with expanded recommerce offerings

New research by Barclaycard Payments has found that retailers have been introducing more “sustainable” ways to buy and sell products and services, as consumers become increasingly conscious over their spending. In its new report, the payment provider said that seven in 10 of the businesses surveyed were now offering recycling, renting, reusing...

RetailFeatured

Click-and-collect worth over 42 billion pounds in the UK this year

The click-and-collect economy will be worth 42 billion pounds in 2022 in the UK, representing 8.4 percent of the country’s total retail spending, according to research from Barclays Corporate Banking. The study ‘What’s in store for retail?,’ focused on retail businesses with more than ten employees, found that ‘hybrid’ shopping, which involves...

BusinessFeatured

Responsible raises 6.6 million US dollars in seed round

Embedded re-commerce platform Responsible has secured 6.6 million US dollars of investment capital to expand its reach throughout Europe. The Belfast-based start-up, founded in 2021 by Irish entrepreneur Mark Dowds and Australian Mitch Doust, has developed a re-commerce technology solution called ‘Buy Back’ that can be added to a brand’s...

Business

Amazon partners with Barclays on payment installations

Amazon has partnered with Barclays in order to allow its customers to pay in instalments in the UK. Amazon customers in the UK will be able to apply for reusable credit at Barclays that lets them spread the cost of their Amazon purchases into monthly instalments. The purchases must be over 100 pounds. The monthly instalments will also be...

Fashion Featured

Festival pop-ups set to make 1.2 billion pounds this summer

Britons are expected to spend a total of 1.2 billion pounds at pop-up stalls this summer, with the average festival-goer shelling out 67 pounds a day on fashion, food, merchandise and testing out experiences on-site. According to new research by Barclays, 37 percent of festival-goers now favour shopping on-site compared to online or on the high...

Business

Mothercare edges closer to securing restructuring and refinancing deal

London - Maternity and baby specialist Mothercare plc is close to securing a rescue deal that would include raising fresh capital from investors as well as accelerating its store closure scheme. The struggling retailer said it is in the process of finalising a restructuring and refinancing package that would place its business on a stable and...

BusinessFeatured

Barclays downgrades Marks and Spencer

Barclays has downgraded Marks and Spencer’s stock to “underweight” from “equalweight” and slashed the price target, as the bank predicts that things are “likely to get worse before they get better” for the UK retailer. With Marks and Spencer sitting at the bottom of the FTSE 100, Barclays cut its price target to 290 pence per share, from 410...