As recently as 2019, the majority (52%) of U.S. Visa card spending was happening in physical stores outside the home. Seven years later, that trend has been flipped on its head. Now, 58% of Visa’s payment volume is happening remotely, online or on apps, according to a new report from the credit card network.
The reasons for this are obvious: mobile phones, stored payments, and growing familiarity with online shopping have made digital purchases more convenient and therefore more common.
But it’s not just that more people are buying things online, Visa found. They’re also doing it more often. In the U.S., the share of cards with 10 or more online transactions a month has nearly doubled, from 13.1% in 2018 to 25.4% in 2026.
This, Visa said, has become a foundation for a lifestyle that is more centered on the home, what the company calls the “couch economy.” That includes dining. “Few innovations capture the couch economy better than food delivery apps,” the report says.
Not surprisingly, food delivery spending took off during the pandemic. The share of Visa cards active on food delivery apps was hovering around 1% in 2018 but began to rise in 2019. It then spiked to more than 5% in 2020 and then 10% in 2021. After that, it plateaued, hovering around 10% until this year, when it dipped by about a point, per Visa data.
Notably, Visa found that everyday consumers, rather than high rollers, tend to be the heaviest users of food delivery.
“This suggests that food delivery has evolved beyond an occasional convenience for a niche group of consumers and become a mainstream service embedded in everyday spending habits,” along the lines of online shopping and streaming, the report says.
The growth of third-party delivery apps that offer a wide selection of restaurants has also helped make delivery a part of everyday life for many consumers.
And there are other things keeping consumers closer to home and making it more likely that they’ll order delivery. The share of Visa cards with streaming subscriptions (about 17.5%) now far outpaces card spending at movie theaters and concerts (about 5.5%), for instance. Meanwhile, pet ownership is also on the rise, according to Visa card data on pet spending.
“As more consumers bring pets into their households, the home naturally becomes a more important center of daily life, spending and leisure,” the report says.
Of course, the couch economy only tells part of the story as it relates to consumers’ dining habits. According to the Visa data, delivery spending has slowed this year. And there is growing evidence that more people are looking to get out and eat at restaurants in person.
In recent months, full-service restaurant chains have outperformed fast-food chains, for instance. Last quarter, median same-store sales at publicly traded FSR brands rose 1.6%, compared to 0.8% for limited service, among companies that have reported results so far. Consumers are also shifting more of their spending from chains to independents, which tend to be full-service restaurants.
Still, Visa’s report concludes that the main lesson from the growth of the couch economy is that consumers now expect a certain level of convenience when they shop or dine.
“The couch economy is not simply about consumers staying home; it is about how rising expectations for convenience are reshaping how they spend,” the report says.
Dining and Cooking