Cardlytics an advertising platform in banks’ digital channels, released its Q1 2022 State of Spend Report. With insight into 1 out of every 2 debit and credit card swipes in the US, Cardlytics found that overall consumer spend is up 7% in Q1 2022 versus the same quarter last year. This marks the highest consumer spending level in four years, despite concerns over record inflation.

The report, which analyzed purchase insights from the Cardlytics platform between December 30, 2021, and March 31, 2022, reveals how consumers are spending across categories including restaurant, direct-to-consumer (DTC), travel, grocery, gas, and convenience, among others. This Purchase Intelligence™ is critical for advertisers to better understand changing consumer preferences and create resulting campaigns that drive incremental returns.

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A few highlights from the Q1 2022 State of Spend Report show:

• Travel and entertainment experienced significant growth (54%) as consumers began traveling again. This category led consumer spending with year-over-year (YoY) increases among airlines (99%), amusement parks (110%), concerts and theater (213%), cruise lines (345%), hotels and lodging (39%), museums and parks (55%), and travel aggregators and agencies (83%).
• Restaurant and food delivery both saw positive consumer spending. Restaurant had a 16% bump, which could be attributed partially to overall price increases. Interestingly, while restaurant delivery in Q1 increases, the overall spending for this category shows slowing growth compared to previous years (202% in 2019, 131% in 2020, 5% 2021).
• Consumers are making fewer fuel trips but are spending more per trip. As a result of the lingering effects of the pandemic, recurring supply chain roadblocks, and a recent inflation surge, gas prices have hit an all-time national average high of $4.18 per gallon. This has led to fewer, more expensive trips to the pump. The gas and convenience sector made up approximately 16.5% of customer trips in 2022, a slight decrease from 2021’s 17.3%. As oil prices increased, so did consumer purchases. In 2021, $50+ purchases were only 13% of total purchases and so far in 2022, approximately 1 in 3 fuel purchases are over $50.
• Retail spending is slowing online and in-store. While overall spending across categories is up, and in-store spending has been better than expected, consumers are starting to pull back on retail purchases. The YoY consumer spend growth for 2022 online shopping was up 44% over 2019 and up 31% over 2020. However, there was no growth in 2022 compared to 2021. For in-store shopping 2022 growth was 7% over 2019, 5% over 2020 and 3% over 2021.

“Despite supply chain challenges, ongoing pandemic uncertainty, and record-level inflation, it’s clear that consumers are continuing to spend but are also looking for frictionless ways to save,” said Cardlytics’ Chief Business Officer, Ross McNab. “As the economy continues to open and summer approaches, now is an important time for brands to take a closer look at their existing marketing strategies and determine what is really driving moments of impact and measurable incremental return on ad spend and make any adjustments accordingly.”

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