The latest Virgin Money current account lifestyle spending data1 reveals that customers are placing increased importance on spending quality time with friends and family and sharing in-person experiences over the summer months.
The new data shows summer lifestyle spending (covering the period between June and August this year) rose to £756.9m, which is an increase of £12.9m compared to the same period last year and by £34m compared to spring (March-May). The number of transactions similarly rose by 6% compared to spring and has also increased by 1% year on year. However, the average spend per transaction has fallen by 9% compared to spring, showing customers are spending more often but spending less on average each time. Lifestyle categories include holidays, UK stays, eating out, style, wellbeing, keeping fit, memberships and subscriptions and entertainment.
Eating out comes out on top
It seems Brits were keen to make the most of summer days out and about with friends and family, with spend on eating out, which includes takeaways, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bakeries, fast food restaurants, coffee shops and food/drink purchased at concerts, increasing by £10.7m this summer compared to summer 2024. Spend is also up 7% compared to spring (an increase of £19.8m), with a total of £305m being spent across this category in June, July and August.
In good news for the hospitality sector, July was the most popular month, with £109m being spent on eating out during this month alone. Across the summer, it was those aged between 56 to 65 who spent the most on eating out – a total of £66m – followed by 46-55-year-olds, who spent £60m.
Spend on staycations and holidays is on the rise
In other categories, spend on staying away in the UK has seen huge increases this summer compared to spring, suggesting consumers were making last-minute UK holiday bookings to enjoy some much-needed good weather closer to home, were travelling around the country during the height of wedding season or are perhaps planning cosy staycations for further ahead this autumn and winter.
Spend on staying away has gone up by 16.1% for summer compared to spring, which is an increase of £7.8m, and total spend reached £56m for this lifestyle category. Premier Inn, Booking.com and Sykes Cottages were some of the most popular choices for customers, and those aged between 36 to 45 spent 21% more on staying away this summer vs spring.
Unsurprisingly, due to our somewhat unreliable summer weather, there’s still a desire to travel further afield, with transactions on holidays totalling £137.7m this summer, which is an increase of 6% year on year or £8m, and July proving to be the month with the highest spend for this category too. However, holiday spend is down by 4% for the quarter, further reinforcing the idea that people plan overseas holidays in advance, possibly down to consumers trying to get a great price by booking early but are happy to leave UK staycations more last-minute.
Live music drives entertainment spending
Entertainment spend has increased by £3.6m (up by 6%) this summer compared to spring, again highlighting how consumers were prioritising spending quality time with friends and family and enjoying experiences. Ticketmaster has seen high volumes of spend, with customers spending more than £1.7m with this retailer over summer – possibly driven by some well high-profile artists, including Oasis, Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa and Kasabian announcing tours with tickets going on sale in July and August.
Summer is also famously festival season in the UK, so Brits could have been taking advantage of any last-minute tickets for festivals such as Wireless Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Download Festival and more, and this increased spend is a trend that may well be set to continue, with Glastonbury 2025 tickets likely to go on sale this autumn2.
Style and keeping fit move down the ranks
Spend on style has seen the biggest drop across the lifestyle categories from an annual point of view, dropping by £5.4m year on year (a 4% decrease). Interestingly, it is 18-25-year-olds who have cut their spend on style the most, spending 10% less this summer vs last summer, followed by those aged between 26 to 35 years old who have cut back by £1.2m year on year. This nods to the shift in these age groups moving towards spending less on fashion, instead building a quality capsule wardrobe, which is championed by many influencers on social media platforms, including Molly Mae, who is launching her own affordable fashion brand focused on modern basics at the end of this month.
Similarly, spend on keeping fit decreased by 4% year on year (a drop of £1.9m), with customers aged between 18 to 25 spending 8% less on this category this summer compared to last summer, followed by those aged between 46 to 55 years old (down by 7%).
This could be driven by people feeling inspired to get outside and exercise with friends while saving money by forgoing their gym membership over the summer months. It’s clear that running continues to grow in popularity, and has become increasingly fashionable in recent times – recent research by SportsShoes.com3 found that 22% of the population say they run between one and three times per week, and regular stories in the news reporting on how run clubs are becoming the UK’s new nightclubs4, due to the younger generation swapping sticky dancefloors for the great outdoors in their quest to find love.
Graeme Sands, head of personal banking at Virgin Money, said: “Our customers are continuing to prioritise their lifestyle spending to allow them to make the most of in-person experiences, creating memories with friends and family. Lifestyle spending is up this summer overall compared to spring, as well as compared to summer last year, with eating out and staying away being the most popular categories.
“At Virgin Money, we remain committed to providing our customers with the tools and products to enable them to manage their money in a way that works for them, helping them to make the most of their money while enjoying themselves at the same time.”
The Virgin Money mobile banking app is packed full of clever tools to help customers budget, top up savings and track their transactions to help people feel in control of their money. Virgin Money also offers a wide range of savings products to help customers make their money work for them.
To find out more about Virgin Money’s product and services, visit: www.virginmoney.com.
About the research
1 Customer spend data sourced from Virgin Money current account customers who have actively spent in one or more of the lifestyle categories between 1 March 2024 and 31 May 2024. Lifestyle categories include eating out, holidays, style, wellbeing, entertainment, keeping fit, staying away, and memberships and subscriptions.
Source
2 Radio X story on when Glastonbury tickets are likely to go on sale: When is Glastonbury 2025, can you register and when do tickets go on sale? - Radio X
3SportsShoes Running Report: Running Statistics 2023/24: SportsShoes Running Report: Running Statistics 2023/24 | SportsShoes.com
4News article on why run clubs are the new nightclub: Run clubs have become our new nightclubs – here’s why | Metro News