Shopping with cards in shopping centers in 2022 will exceed the pre-pandemic level by 20%

Billing for card purchases at mall stores increased 20.6% in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic 2019, with transactions up 20.9%, according to research released this Thursday by an industry association.

According to a study by Reduniq Insight for the Portuguese Association of Shopping Centers (APCC), “positive changes in billing are mainly due to a 26% increase in working days between 2019 and 2022.”

Analyzing consumption hours on weekdays, the study also notes that “the working period shows a greater increase than the period after work (25.9% vs. 11.4%), so it is very important for the positive operation of shopping centers.”

The national network for accepting national and foreign cards Reduniq also found that last year, despite recorded inflation, the average ticket price was 37.2 euros, which is “very similar to the cost of 2019”, with the highest average purchase on the weekend days (38.3 euros). Euro).

Analyzing the relevance of each quarter in the total amount of invoices registered in malls, one can see a “very stable profile between 2019 and 2022”, with the fourth quarter “contributing the most to the total amount of invoices, 31.7% in 2022” .

The study also shows that the main sectors that characterize consumption in malls, such as fashion, perfumery and catering, have an average purchase price higher in 2022 than in 2019.

“By industry, in 2022, 34% of the total turnover recorded in shopping centers falls on the fashion category. In addition, 28% was spent on supermarkets and 14% on catering,” he clarifies.

Compared to 2019, it seems that hotels, tourism activities and fashion “are the only categories that show negative turnover fluctuations”, while categories such as car accessories and workshops, household appliances and appliances, gas stations, stationery stores, perfumery and supermarkets show growth. from 4% to 29%.

“In addition, categories such as hairdressers, pharmacies, food service and health are showing more pronounced growth, in some cases exceeding 100%, which is partly due to the dematerialization of cash-to-card payments,” he adds.

The Reduniq Insight study also indicates that the weekend period accounted for 34% of total mall bills in 2022, and compared to 2019, the weight of the weekend decreased by three percentage points.

In terms of hours of consumption, weekday hours after work account for 34% of the total recorded bill, representing a three percentage point negative variation between 2019 and 2022.

In terms of different days of the week, about half of the turnover occurs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and this situation has not changed between 2019 and 2022.

APCC’s executive president said in a statement that 2022 “has been a year of full recovery” for mall tenants: “While it started with severe traffic restrictions, despite inflationary pressures, it has turned out to be one of the best. years for stores in malls,” says Rodrigo Moita de Deus, claiming that this was the result of “a professionalism and dynamism that everyone knew how to wear.”