Visa’s consumer research reveals surge in social media shopping in the UK

By Megha Bhattacharya

A new consumer research commissioned by Visa has revealed a surge in social media shopping with around 17% of Brits using social apps to shop and 11% making a purchase this way since lockdown. The research revealed social media-fuelled purchases accounted for 24% of online purchases in the past six months.

Clothing and accessories are the most popular Swipe Up Shopping purchases (37%), followed by homeware (29%) and electronics (20%). The survey of 2,000 UK consumers conducted by Opinium on behalf of Visa, revealed Swipe Up Shopping is likely to continue growing in popularity with over a third (36%) surveyed planning to continue purchasing this way in the future.

Jeni Mundy, UK & Ireland Managing Director, Visa, commented, “Using your Visa debit or credit card to shop on social media offers a layer of protection in the event something goes wrong with a purchase, such as items failing to arrive and being unable to reach a resolution with the retailer. If this happens, you can contact your bank to ask them to pursue a chargeback claim on your behalf, whereby they may be able to reclaim your money from the retailer’s bank. Visa’s Zero Liability Policy also provides a separate guarantee that you won’t be held responsible for any unauthorised payments made on your Visa card, to ensure you are not left out of pocket should you become a victim of fraud.”

With shopping on social media on a rise, safety during purchases needs to increase. The latest data from UK Finance has revealed that the number of card-not-present fraud cases is on the rise. Scammers exploiting Covid-19 increasingly move fraud online, and social media platforms are high on hit lists.