Businesses pivot towards digital adoption as spending on services up 48%

Data reveals business spend across Europe up significantly in third quarter, with many preparing for remote working into the medium term

Trade

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In association with Soldo

European business spending saw a significant shift towards digital adoption in the third quarter of this year (July-September), according to the Soldo Spend Index, which reported spend on services, including professional services, subscriptions, and software, increasing by 48% compared to Q2. The resource, compiled by spend management platform Soldo, features data from a sample of almost 30,000 businesses across Europe.

Spend in these categories amounted to 15% of all purchases made with Soldo cards in September as the shift to digital and remote working continued, suggesting businesses across Europe are now preparing for out-of-office working for the medium-term.

The top merchants where businesses made purchases include Amazon Marketplace, AWS, Microsoft, Apple, Currys, and Argos. Ongoing investment in technology and SaaS suggests that businesses are embracing technology as a way to adapt to the Covid crisis in the longer term, fuel digital adoption and support staff in working remotely.

Business payments moving increasingly online

Remote working has also seen business spending behaviour increasingly mirror that of consumers, with companies rapidly transitioning to online payment methods. Soldo customers are increasingly adopting virtual cards over physical payment cards, with virtual cards being favoured by 41% of customers this year, almost double that of 2019.

This indicates a preference towards remote spending as opposed to traditional point-of-sale transactions and is aligned with recent statistics released by the Central Bank of Ireland, showing e-commerce expenditure in September up 18% on the same period last year.

UK and Ireland business spending up 65 percent

Businesses in Ireland and the UK increased their spending by 65 percent in Q3, compared to Q2. This includes a 28% increase in September compared to August. In the rest of Europe, business spend increased by an impressive 78 percent from Q2, and spend in September increased by 23% compared to the previous month.

Carlo Gualandri, Founder and CEO at Soldo, said: “We are clearly seeing how businesses have responded this year to the pandemic, and the impact it has had on how they operate. With public health restrictions in place across Europe, business spending habits have had to adapt which we are seeing undoubtedly in our latest Spend Index.

“It is evident from the data that businesses are not preparing for a return to the office in the short-term and are instead making preparations for remote working to continue well into 2021 and even beyond.”