Amid a 67% increase in the customer base in Romania, local Revolut users set a new record for the number of payments to traders in 2022 – 203 million (of which 27% in the retail sector), 90% more than in 2021, the company said. Most transactions were made for supermarket and grocery store shopping.
Revolut has more than 25 million customers globally, of whom 2.5 million in Romania – the second market after the United Kingdom.
The survey shows that all categories of expenses were on an upward trend in 2022, in terms of the total amount and the number of transactions. The categories of entertainment (+37%), shopping (+34%), and restaurants (+33%) saw the biggest increases in the number of transactions in 2022 vs 2021.
Local Revolut users spent the most on shopping – 18% of the total amount of payments to traders, slightly down from 20% in 2021. The following spending categories in terms of share of total payments were entertainment (18%) and supermarkets and grocery stores (14%), as per the survey.
When it comes to the distribution of expenses by category of merchants, Romanians left the most money in grocery stores and supermarkets, and that’s also where they made the most transactions throughout the year. The average payment value made to these traders was EUR10/customer/transaction. Also, a Romanian customer paid, on average, EUR 40/transaction for purchases from clothing stores, EUR19/transaction in gas stations, EUR16/transaction in restaurants, bars, and cafes, EUR15/transaction for telecommunications services, EUR14/transaction in pharmacies, and EUR10/transaction in fast-food restaurants.
The annual spending budget of an average Revolut customer was as follows: entertainment – EUR749 per year, tourism – EUR530/year, shopping – EUR500/year, food and consumer products – EUR375/year, restaurants, bars, cafes – EUR338/year, transport – EUR298/year, and utilities – EUR246/year. The smallest spending budget went to health – on average EUR191/year/client.