manchester

christmas

Card spending up as Christmas shoppers start early

Credit and debit card spending rose during October as consumers made an early start on their Christmas shopping, figures have showed.

People spent a total of £5.7 billion on MasterCard branded cards during the month, 5.5% more than during September.

But within this total consumers favoured debit cards, spending nearly £3 billion on them in October, 6.3% more than during the previous month, while credit card spending rose by 4.6% to £2.7 billion, MasterCard said.

Spending on the high street jumped by nearly 8% to £4.4 billion as people made a start on their Christmas shopping, but at the same time online spending fell by just under 1% to £1.4 billion.

Brian Moore, senior vice-president of MasterCard Europe, said: "British consumers are playing it safe and are trying to pay for their pre-Christmas purchases now rather than wait until later.

"There's clearly still a degree of uncertainty over the nation's economic prospects, fuelled as winter approaches by fears that fuel prices will continue to rise.

"Meanwhile, shoppers are sticking with tradition and are returning to the high street as the festive period approaches.

"Old habits die hard and many of us evidently prefer to literally get our hands on items straight away, even if we've initially seen the products we want to buy online."