Payment Declines Double in Value as Consumers Ramp up Big-Ticket Purchases in January

How consumers’ shopping and payment behaviors have evolved coming out of the holiday season offers an early — and often accurate — indication of what’s to come in the months ahead.

PYMNTS’ latest research shows that consumers are once again shopping online after returning to physical stores during the holiday season. More than one-quarter were using online and mobile channels for their shopping needs in January — a trend likely to continue through the rest of the year. This increase in digital shopping coincided with a decline in consumers’ use of physical stores.

Another key trend to emerge was consumers’ desire and willingness to spend on travel, even as the omicron variant’s spread poses new health challenges across the United States. The average amount consumers were spending on travel in January rose 33% from the previous month. Overall, consumers had spent $23.4 billion on making travel purchases.

In addition, 79% of consumers who were making travel purchases in January did so online — significantly higher than the shares who used digital channels to purchase retail, food or grocery products.

These are just some of the key insights found in Digital Economy Payments February 2022 U.S. Edition: U.S. Consumers And The Post-Holiday Digital Shopping Ramp-Up. We surveyed 2,633 U.S. consumers between Jan. 11 and Jan. 20 to explore how consumers’ shopping and payment behaviors when buying groceries, food, retail products and travel services have evolved after the 2021 holiday season.

Other key insights include:

Payment declines more than doubled in value from the previous month. The total value of declined transactions rose significantly as more consumers returned to shopping online, increasing from $5 billion in December to $11 billion in January.

More than one-quarter of consumers used their PayPal balance to pay for everything ranging from travel to food in January. A relatively small share of consumers used digital wallets to make purchases, with just 9% using them for purchases in January.

Consumers living paycheck to paycheck who have issues paying bills were the most likely to experience payment declines. More than one-quarter of these consumers experienced payment declines in January, a higher share than any other demographic group.

To learn more about how consumers’ shopping and payment behavior trends are expected to play out this year, download the report.