Lock till we shop: people spend 7% more and shop nearly twice as much online while in lockdown

• People have spent 25% more on groceries in lockdown – and they have been spending 33% more on food shopping than this time last year
• People ordered more takeaways in the most recent lockdown – with delivery services twice as popular as this time last year
• People are shopping online nearly twice as much as they were this time last year
• However, people have spent 8% less in Lockdown 2 when compared with Lockdown 1

User data from* Yolt, the award-winning smart money app reveals today that consumers spent 7% more on average, across the two periods of national lockdown, despite the closure of many non-essential stores. The data found that while people made savings in some areas, such as travel and transport, they spent significantly more occupying themselves at home.

Yolt’s user data found that users spent approximately 25% more on groceries across the two national lockdowns. Users were also spending 33% more on their regular food shop when compared with this time last year.

Despite spending more on groceries, people were also twice as likely to order food in, with takeaway delivery services such as Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats seeing significant increases when compared with the same time last year. Lockdown conditions also saw people shopping online nearly twice as much as in November 2019, while unable to do much of their Christmas shopping on the high street.

Despite the lockdown boom, the data suggests people were overall far more cautious in the second national lockdown. People spent 8% less this November when compared with the first lockdown in March. This was perhaps prompted by the broader economic uncertainty felt by many households, ensuring people were more cautious with their spending. Recent research by Yolt, for instance, found that a fifth of consumers (21%) expect their Christmas spending to decrease by an average of £151 this year, equating to £1.7bn across the country*.

Pauline van Brakel, says “While the November lockdown saw similar increases in some expenditure areas as the first lockdown, overall people spent less. This is initially surprising when you consider that November is usually a peak period for retailers, but all indications are that consumers are looking to spend smarter and reduce their outgoings in light of broader economic uncertainty. Even as lockdown eases, we anticipate people will want to continue to spend cautiously over the festive season. Yolt wants to enable people to be smart with their money and help them find ways of balancing spending and saving, no matter what restrictions they might be facing.”