Growth of spending on food delivery outstrips restaurants

Online expenditure on restaurants grew 19.8% from 22 April to 19 May, according to figures from Barclaycard.

In contrast spending on eating out increased just 7.9% over the same period.

It follows a separate study​​ by intelligence platform Cardlytics, which found that spending on delivery services rose more than five times faster than in restaurants during the first quarter of 2018.

The May Bank Holiday also provided a boost for pubs, with expenditure rising 19% during the long weekend. This led to overall growth of 12.5% in May, returning to levels last seen in January.

“Although a degree of caution remains, UK shoppers felt confident enough to let themselves enjoy the sunny weather in May…this brought good news for the high street,” says Esme Harwood, director at Barclaycard.

“Looking ahead, it seems the experience economy will remain a top priority as consumers plan to treat themselves to major music and sporting events. In the next few months, we expect to see families carefully balancing their budgets to ensure they don't miss out on their must-see and must-do experiences of the summer.”

The findings are based on data from Barclaycard, which processes nearly half the UK’s credit and debit card transactions.