January 2022 brought a decrease in the number of purchases in Santander's businesses, compared to previous months. We run the numbers, obtained through the analysis of anonymized data from POS transactions, and tell you all about what spending looked like in Santander in the first month of the year. 

There was a decrease in total spending, volume of transactions and the overall number of registered vendors, compared to previous months —likely due to the end of the holidays and the usual January slump in sales; a 15% decrease when compared to December, a markedly active month, and a 6% decrease when compared to November. The first few days of January do show a higher spending, particularly on the 4th, but the number of transactions tapered off as the month progressed. 

Analysis of the number of transactions by category or type of business, the food industry represents almost 30% of the overall activity, followed by restaurants and bars (21%), and transport (9.5%). At the other end of the scale, we have industries such as technology, travel and the automotive industry, with a much lower number of transactions. These data don't necessarily correlate with spending volume: fashion was the second sector by spending in January.  

Regarding the analysis of sales volume by neighbourhood, the highest number of transactions corresponds to the more centric areas, such as the streets around City Hall. In particular, the more active zone is the one between Burgos Street and Paseo Pereda. Sales volume also varies along the week, with higher numbers on weekdays at the Candina Industrial Park and the area close to El Corte Inglés. Weekends, on the other hand, saw an increase in commercial activity closer to El Sardinero. 

More reports will follow in which we will tell you all about how we can analyse the average tourist expenditure as well as the visitors' place of origin, information that can be incredibly useful when managing services and tourist offer.