Is mobility a good proxy for consumption?

This paper investigates the relationship between mobility and consumer expenditure using a longitudinal dataset of local-level transactions in the United Kingdom. It distinguishes between online and in-store spending and employs fixed effects models covering the period from February 2020 to March 2022. The analysis finds that retail and recreational mobility consistently serve as reliable proxies for in-store spending, while there is limited evidence of a correlation between online spending and mobility. These findings suggest that mobility data can serve as a valuable proxy for consumer activity in countries lacking high-frequency consumption data. • Geographic mobility is a reliable proxy for retail consumption. • The mobility elasticity of in-store retail spending is close to one. • Limited correlation emerges between online shopping and mobility.