Report: One in four payments made by Romanian Revolut customers was for groceries

The Revolut study on customers’ spending in H1 2024 shows that the distribution of spending categories has changed significantly compared to the first six months of the previous year. Importantly, more than a quarter of payments with Revolut were at local supermarkets and grocery stores.

The share of entertainment in the total amount spent by the entire customer base increased from 20% to 23%, remaining the main budget category for expenditures in the first six months of the year. Shopping remained in second place with 17%, and the food and consumer goods budget was kept in third place with 15%.

Romanians also spent on transport (9% of total payments), public food services in restaurants, bars, cafes, fast-foods (9%), tourism services (8%), other types of services (7%), and utilities (5%). Regarding the Romanian customer base, the smallest spending budget went to health (including cosmetics, and personal hygiene products, representing 4%).

In the first six months of 2023, Romanians made nearly 232 million payments to merchants using Revolut, an increase of 22% compared to the first half of last year. At the same time, the total number of transactions made with Revolut also increased by 22% from January 1 to June 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.

A total of 27% of payments were for purchasing food products in supermarkets and grocery stores (27% also in H1 2023), meaning that one in four payments made by a Romanian customer is recorded at the local store. 16% of transactions were recorded for entertainment (compared to 14% in H1 2023), 13% in restaurants, bars, cafes (similar in H1 2023), 13% for shopping (compared to 12% in H1 2023), 11% for transport, 9% for tourism, 4% for utilities, and 3% for health.

Another trend revealed by the Revolut analysis is that Romanians increasingly use the Revolut card to make payments at self-service or payment stations. Whether it’s paying bills, purchasing vignettes, or recharging phone cards, payments to these types of terminals are increasing in both total amount and number of transactions. Compared to the reference period in 2023, the number of transactions increased by 176%, and the total amount of payments made increased by 125%.

In the first six months of the year, the average monthly budget spent by a Romanian user increased by 14%, reaching RON 1,910. During the reference period, a Revolut user in Romania spent an average of RON 1,330 per month on entertainment, RON 1,040 on services, RON 502 on shopping and the same amount on tourism, RON 410 on products bought from supermarkets (food, household items, etc.), RON 364 on public food services (restaurants, cafes, bars, catering), and RON 363 on transport. For health, personal hygiene, and cosmetics, the average monthly budget allocated was RON 302, and the smallest budget was allocated for utilities (RON 290).