Irish Consumer Spending Up

According to credit card company VISA Irish consumer spending is up 2.5%, and has overtaken March as the fastest increase in spending. July saw an increase of 1.8% from June.

This is the 3rd month that the VISA consumer index has shown growth for Irish consumer spending. eCommerce (or Online spending) increased by 8.9% but traditional shopping saw a continued 10 month fall. The entertainment industry has seen a sharp increase in spending with more money being spent across hotels, bar, eating out, culture and recreation.

The index takes into account cash, credit and electronic payments. According to research carried out by the European Union Ireland tops the list of countries making purchases online, with 59% of people stating that they have made an online purchase at least once in the last 12 months. Ireland also had the most amount of business selling online.

July saw the smallest monthly drop in brick and mortar (traditional) shopping, with a 0.5% decrease however this comes on the back of 10 months of continual decline.

Hotels, Restaurants and Bars saw an increase of 9.1%, followed by Household goods at 7.2% with culture and recreation seeing an increase of 6.7%.

Health and Education saw a drop of 2.8% from July 2016.

Philip Konopik, Country Manager, Ireland, Visa said: “Our latest data shows that the growth in Irish consumer spending remains modest, but encouragingly the rate of expansion has now accelerated over three consecutive months, with eCommerce as the key driver. The further improved unemployment rate, with increasing job prospects, is likely to help support further rises in consumer spending in the future.”

Andrew Harker, Senior Economist at IHS Markit said: “The July Irish CSI provides further evidence of building growth momentum in household spending following a soft-patch earlier in 2017. There were some encouraging signs from categories that have been under pressure through much of the past year. Clothing & Footwear posted the fastest rise in expenditure since May 2016, while Face-to-Face spending moved closer to stabilisation, providing some hope that the high street can start to contribute to growth again in the near future.”