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Retail Intelligence

Irish Consumer Spending Up By 5.1%

By Publications Checkout
Irish Consumer Spending Up By 5.1%

According to Visa's Irish Consumer Spending Index (CSI), the rate of growth in Irish consumer spending grew by 5.1% in September.

The latest increase was weaker than the average seen over the course of the last two years, with a wide divergence between the rate of expansion in spending via eCommerce and face-to-face categories recorded in the pervious month.

Spending in eCommerce categories was up 13.4% year-on-year, slightly slower than that seen in August, but nonetheless posting a double-digit expansion for the fifth time in the past six months.

Meanwhile, face-to-face spending was up only +0.8% year-on-year, the weakest expansion in the 25 months of the series to date. The Dublin Bus strike was named as one of the factors impacting face-to-face spending, with retailers reporting sales declines between 25-60% on the days of the strikes.

Recreation & Culture was again the lead performer, posting the strongest expansion (+12.5% year-on-year). Sharp rises in spending were also recorded in the Transport & Communication and Hotels, Restaurants & Bars sectors, while Food & Beverages saw an acceleration in the rate of expansion.

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In contrast, Clothing & Footwear spending decreased for the second month running in September, down -2.0% year-on-year. As was the case in August, the sector was the only one to see an outright decline in spending.

Philip Konopik, Country Manager, Ireland, Visa said: "Ahead of Budget 2017, it is a positive milestone to have recorded the 25th consecutive month of growth in Irish consumer spending. While we continued to see strong performances in the Recreation & Culture and Transport & Communication sectors, it was particularly positive to see strong growth in expenditure at Hotels, Restaurants & Bars with a 6.2% rise in year-on-year spending in September, compared to a +0.6% increase last month. With no transport strikes planned over the coming month, hopefully we will see a boost for retailers in October."

© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Miyuki Nakano

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