UOB cardholders have been spending money on retail purchases in 2023 like it was pre-pandemic times.

This was the latest finding by the bank in its year-end wrap-up analysing consumer spending trends.

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Based on data on Singapore UOB cardholders’ spending at selected merchants from December 2022 to November 2023, several trends were evident.

Coffee

1. UOB cardholders spent over S$47 million on heartland “kopi” and more premium brews, with close to 4.5 million transactions in total.

2. Kopi triumphed over artisan coffee as the brew of choice for transaction count, but connoisseurs spent almost double on their cuppas as compared to the more heartland variants.

3. Customers ordered more kopi on weekdays, but artisan coffee was the cuppa of choice on weekends.

4. Most “juiced up” month based on coffee consumption: October (based on number of kopi and coffee transactions).

Fast food

1. Burgers were Singapore’s favourite fast food (83.5 per cent of total fast food transactions), followed by fried chicken (13.5 per cent) and pizza (3 per cent).

2. McDonald’s was Singapore UOB cardholders’ top fast food choice, followed by KFC and Burger King in that order.

Airlines

1. UOB cardholders spent over S$1 billion on air tickets around the world.

2. Singapore Airlines is the carrier of choice for UOB cardholders for both transaction counts and amount spent, followed by budget subsidiary Scoot.

3. For non-Singaporean airlines, Emirates Airlines, ANA and AirAsia topped amount spent, while AirAsia, Jetstar Airways and Malaysia Airlines took the top three spots for transaction count.

Concerts

1. UOB cardholders spent S$46 million on concert tickets this year.

2. In the never-ending war for fans’ hearts and wallets, Western pop acts took podium position over Mandopop and K-pop.

3. Fans of Western pop acts spent close to S$39 million on concert tickets. Swifties drove over 23,000 transactions over the three-day ticketing sales period in July (inclusive of UOB presale) for her six shows in Singapore, and Ed Sheeran fans made over 10,000 transactions for his show here.

4. Mandopop fans spent almost S$6 million, with Taiwanese rock band Mayday being the most popular act. K-pop came in third at over S$1.5 million, led by Blackpink.

Jacquelyn Tan, UOB head of group personal financial services, said: "An interesting point to note is that consumers are gravitating towards spending on experiences rather than on material goods."

"Cases in point include artisan coffee expenditure almost double of its more heartland counterpart, air ticket spending crossing a billion Singapore dollars and concertgoers’ overwhelming response to global entertainment acts coming to our shores next year."

Top photos via Unsplash & Taylor Swift Instagram