Coffee; cheese; fresh pasta; toilet paper; cut flowers and gin.
Prior to the pandemic, we might have put these items in a supermarket basket. These days, you’re more likely to sign up for an online subscription.
The “subscription economy” is not a new spending trend, but it has grown rapidly during the pandemic. How many submarines did you take out under the blockage?
According to a report last week, more than 80% of UK households have signed up for at least one subscription, up from 65% a year ago. Berkeley card payment, Handles about half of UK credit and debit card transactions.
A poll of 2,000 consumers announcing the emergence of “super subscribers” shows that the average cost of maintaining subscription addiction reached £ 52 a month, or £ 620 a year, up 12% from a year ago. I found out.
Is this spending caused by boredom or need? And now the blockage is over, are you in a hurry to cancel?
Streaming services, fitness apps, and magazines were some of the early winners from “exchange habits” such as internment fatigue and coffee subscriptions instead. A trip to Pret a Manger.
Many of my Instagram followers who work from home and are locked out of bars and restaurants are gin, whiskey, craft beer, or Cocktails that can be mixed immediately Through the post.
Lockdown is also the perfect recipe for a mealbox kit like HelloFresh.Last week’s results Second-quarter revenue increased 60%, but profits are more difficult to increase). Pasta evangelist, Italian pasta giant Barilla recently paid £ 40m for a majority stake.
And how about delivering fresh flowers and plants on a regular basis to keep your home office healthy?33-year-old founder of Freddie Flower I recently told FT Its number of customers has more than doubled since March 2020.
You can subscribe to beauty products, scented candles, and even clothes (there is a company called) Stitch correction It uses an online survey to manipulate your style and send you selected cows on a sales or returns basis each month. Friends say it’s eerily effective).
Companies clearly value recurring revenue from all these subscriptions, but from a personal financial point of view, it can easily lead to overspending disasters.
You may be thinking of thinning out your sublist, but as I’ve found, it’s not as simple as going through your direct debit.
A new feature in the banking app has made me look into my habits. “Click here to view your card’s recurring payments.”
How are these different from direct withdrawals? Instead of entering your bank details and signing a contract, simply enter your card number on the retailer’s website and (perhaps unknowingly) allow regular payments.
I knew some of me (with Netflix Naked wine, Before the blockade). Other than that, I didn’t understand at all. Who was the Digital River and why did I pay them £ 11.80 in June?
To helpless, my banking app advised me: “To cancel a recurring card payment, you need to contact the retailer directly.”
Several online detective jobs have revealed that Digital River is a Minnesota company that processes over $ 3 billion in payments each year. Further digging, their payment software must have powered the QR code I used to scan, order, and pay a few pints at a local pub.
I vaguely quivered at an outdoor table and remembered rushing through an online T & C to get a drink. If you return to the same pub, you can leave this channel open so you don’t have to squint and re-enter your card number on your phone without glasses. But I chose to call my bank and disable it.
The payment provider you’re likely to have heard of is Stripe. NS Most valuable private sector In Silicon Valley, that technology is driving the digital payments revolution, giving retailers of all sizes the ability to set up subscriptions, recurring payments, and more in exchange for a small reduction in transactions.
Since the pandemic began, more than 500,000 new European companies have registered on Stripe’s platform, and it is estimated that 80% of UK consumers have paid using Stripe over the past year. increase.
My dentist decided to use it to minimize contact. Receptionists now receive invoices by email instead of paying by card. Once you enter your card details, you will be able to pay with one click and a PDF proof of payment for your dental insurance claim will be emailed instantly.
Smooth — but that means my card details are kept somewhere in the system. I trust my dentist with my Gunasher, but I don’t trust anyone to avoid accidentally overcharging my card. As a result, monthly bank and credit card statements are being checked in earnest.
resolverThe online complaints portal states that it has never seen consumers challenge regular payments, but that it is likely to file complaints through banks. But as a consumer, Resolver shares my view that as a consumer, we need more information about what happens when things go wrong or transactions are disputed.
Whether you value what you are paying is another question. Unwrapped magazines and old artisan bread are undeniable clues (at least gin doesn’t go away!), But digital services are unobtrusive and easy to forget. The Subscriptions tab in the App Store on your smartphone shows what you’ve retrieved and what you’ll be charged to renew when the time comes.
I was scared to see Instagram’s scheduling app, which signed up for a few pounds, about to be charged nearly £ 25 for automatic updates. Canceled with a click — and you can still use it for the month I paid.
And be careful about subscribing to gifts (they are also soaring in popularity under the blockade as the stores are closed). Unless you forget to cancel, this is really a gift that not only receives money from your bank account, but also keeps giving.
So did you pass the “peak subscription” or is the trend penetrating into new areas? A poll of 5,000 Stripe customers across Europe found that one in five people received monthly beauty products, clothing and toiletries, and young consumers are much more likely to register. Shown. However, Stripe business users say customers are more likely to subscribe if they know they can easily suspend or suspend their recurring orders.
Sadly, this flexible approach is not yet standard. If you want to check your subscription addiction, you may find it much harder to sign off than to sign up.
Claer Barrett is a consumer editor for FT. [email protected]; twitter @Claerb; Instagram @Claerb
How’s your subscription addiction? | Financial Times Source link How’s your subscription addiction? | Financial Times