Western Europe

Apparel accessories is recovering in 2023, following a noticeable decline in 2022 as consumers shifted away from buying face masks in the post-pandemic era. Whilst retail volume sales remained in decline, apparel accessories reported positive current…

Overall, apparel and footwear continued to witness positive current value growth in 2023, although as in the previous year much of this growth was driven by inflation and retail price increases. In the face of these higher prices and costs of living,…

Charge cards is expected to continue to see double-digit declines in 2023 in terms of cards in circulation, and volume and value transactions. Historically, charge cards were primarily associated with business use, as the majority of transactions,…

In 2023, childrenswear continues to see robust growth in value terms, although this is largely driven by inflation and price increases. Inflation has fallen slightly, but it continues to be a hindrance to volume growth, with sales pushed back into…

In 2022, there was double-digit growth in terms of credit card spending for both personal and commercial credit cards. High inflation and the rising cost of living, which have also been affecting Britons in 2023, were amongst the main causes. In…

In 2023, debit cards remains the preferred and most widely used payment method, increasing from the previous year in terms of the number of cards in circulation, as well as the volume and retail value of transactions. However, this growth is set to…

In 2023, the UK’s economy has continued to be characterised by a high inflation rate and a rising cost of living. And, while in 2022 this situation was mainly exacerbated by the high cost of energy, in 2023 this cost has gradually started decreasing,…