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CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Absa Merchant Spend Analytics Report :
April 2025

Absa | Corporate and Investment Banking > Insights and Events > Absa Merchant Spend Analytics Report: April 2025
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Consumer spending experiences an unexpected dip.

The Merchant Spend Analytics Report for April 2025 noted a surprising decline in card transaction data for the month. In the wake of a robust performance in March, the month-to-month figures showed a 5% decline in card spending and a 7% decrease in transaction volume.

These figures were somewhat unexpected due to the frequency of public and religious holidays during the month, as well as the number of long weekends. Typically, these are strong drivers of heightened consumer activity and spending.

The timing of the April payday, which fell after the Easter weekend, evidently played a significant role in slowing the rate of spending over what is usually a high-activity period. This resulted in a subdued month for the food and tourism sectors. It is noteworthy, however, that the social and religious services category did see an uptick, which was buoyed by religious holidays and their associated activity.

Key insights

An analysis of the year-to-date figures reveals that growth has slowed compared to the same period last year (April YTD 2024 vs. April YTD 2025). Other noteworthy key takeaways include the continued outperformance of credit cards over debit cards in terms of usage, despite a clear slowdown. A plateau in popular online spending also indicates a normalisation in growth, rather than a decline in interest.

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