Visa Europe upbeat as customers buy coffees on the card

01/20/2009 (2 h 19 m ago)

Europeans celebrated Christmas Day last year by making 1.7m online shopping transactions with their Visa cards, the head of Visa Europe said today, as he made an upbeat forecast for 2009 prospects. Peter Ayliffe, the company's chief executive, said the economic downturn would have to be "catastrophic" for it not to see growth in its turnover this year. After shoppers spent 10% more on Visa cards last year than in 2007, Visa Europe is projecting growth in transactions of at least 5% this year as consumers drop cash and switch to debit/credit cards for smaller-ticket items. Online purchases accounted for a third of the 532m total transactions on Visa cards made between 1 December 2008 and 4 January 2009, Ayliffe said, a 24% jump on the year. The busiest day of the holiday period, 23 December, saw 24.5m total transactions or 731 every second. Visa's figures confirm evidence that, while high street retail shops, especially in the UK, are closing their shutters permanently, consumers are still buying via their laptops – and choosing debit rather than credit cards. Debit transactions now account for 70% of Visa Europe's turnover. "Transactions held up well but the value of spend is reducing and this trend will continue in 2009," he said, presenting figures showing Visa Europe turnover at €673m and pre-tax profits at €113m. "I would be surprised if there was any increase in terms of the amount of spend at value." Total purchases and cash withdrawals last year were €1.3tn. Europe guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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