G&G verified business evidence
Online transactions accounted for 50.5% of UK consumer card spending in September 2025.
The ONS experimental analysis uses aggregated and anonymised payment-card data. It covers consumer card spending captured by the contributing provider, not every form of household expenditure.
Based on aggregated, anonymised payment-card data.
Office for National Statistics
Consumer card spending, e-commerce and digital trade insights in the UK: 2019 to 2025
The analysis reports an online share of 50.5% of consumer card spending in September 2025.
Office for National Statistics. Consumer card spending, e-commerce and digital trade insights in the UK: 2019 to 2025. 6th of February, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/articles/consumercardspendingecommerceanddigitaltradeinsightsintheuk/2019to2025
Online purchasing represents a substantial part of card spending, affecting how consumer-facing SMEs plan acquisition, checkout, fulfilment and customer service. The figure is a market-channel signal, not evidence that every sector or business receives half of its sales online.
Online transactions represented 50.5% of card spending in September 2025, up from 43.7% in September 2019. The ratio shows seasonal movement, with recurring troughs in December and peaks in January. From 2019 to 2024, the domestic online-spending ratio rose to 47.1%, while the international online ratio fell to 61%.
The online ratio divides the value of card-not-present spending by total captured card spending. It reflects the value of transactions rather than the number of customers or purchases. Channel mix varies significantly by merchant category and season.
The experimental ONS analysis uses aggregated, anonymised Visa card data and does not capture cash, bank transfers, every card provider or all household expenditure. Card-not-present is used as the online proxy and may include transactions that consumers would not describe as e-commerce. The aggregate is not a small-business sales benchmark.
G&G perspective: use the national ratio to test channel assumptions, then rely on the business’s own conversion, margin, fulfilment, return and repeat-purchase data. Compare online and offline contribution after payment, delivery, support and acquisition costs rather than pursuing online revenue share alone.
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