Either Donegal consumers still have a fear of spending online or they get their Christmas shopping done early!
Figures compiled by AIB for card spending last December shows that Donegal consumers spend the least on their credit and debit cards.
The average spend from people in Donegal for the month of December, 2022 was €1,512 followed by Monaghan (€1,636) and Leitrim (€1,654).
People from Wicklow spent the most on their cards in store and online in December 2022 (€1,941) followed by Kildare (€1,931) and Meath (€1,925).
- Festive cheers: Christmas shopping set to peak overall on 23rd December according to 2022 figures, while men spend almost twice as much as women in pubs that day.
- 23rd December on course to be the busiest day for grocery shopping, with spending 191% higher than average in supermarkets on that day in 2022.
- People from Wicklow spent most during Christmas 2022 while people from Donegal spent the least.
The data also reveals that customers carried out 2.8 million transactions in shops on 23rd December 2022, 84% higher than the average day last year, making it the busiest day of the year for in store shopping.
The busiest time of the year for spending in store was between 12pm and 1pm on December 23rd, with over €12m spent in that hour alone. Women spend more than men on shopping in the run up to Christmas, except on Christmas Eve. The busiest hour for in store shopping by men was between 12pm and 1pm on Christmas Eve, as they made a last-minute festive dash to the shops.
The data was compiled from over 75 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during December 2022 and has been anonymised and aggregated. Data provided by AIB features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland.
- For pubs, the busiest day of the holiday season was Friday 23rd December, with €5.2m spent in total. Men spent almost twice as much as women (€3.4m compared to €1.8m).
- The next busiest day for pubs was Saturday December 17th (€4.8m) followed by New Years Eve (€4.3m).
- 23rd December is the busiest day of the year for grocery shopping in store, with spending 191% higher than the average day in 2022.
- Despite the rise in online shopping, we are still choosing to do our Christmas grocery shop in store. 93% of grocery spend was in store compared to 7% online.
- In the week leading up to Christmas 2022, men spent almost twice as much on jewellery as women. When men purchased jewellery, the average transaction was €208, for women it was €106.
- Also in the week leading up to Christmas 63% of the clothing spend was by women, their average transaction was €64, but men spent more per transaction on clothes, their average transaction when buying clothes was €85.
- People from Wicklow spent the most on their cards in store and online in December 2022 (€1,941) followed by Kildare (€1,931) and Meath (€1,925). People from Donegal spent the least (€1,512) followed by Monaghan (€1,636) and Leitrim (€1,654).
- Traditionally, the 8th December was a busy day for shopping in Dublin, as people travelled from all over the country for the day. However, there was no noticeable increase in spending on 8th December 2022, in line with trends from the previous year, indicating that this tradition may be coming to an end.
- Unsurprisingly, the quietest day of the year for spending in shops was Christmas Day, however there were still 85,000 transactions in store that day, mostly on fuel supplies.
AIB’s Head of SME Banking, John Brennan said “it’s the busiest time of the year for many businesses and they will welcome the fact that this year is on course to be as busy as ever, particularly in those final days in the run up to Christmas Day. Men appear to leave a lot of their shopping until the last minute, over lunch on Christmas Eve. And retailers can plan for a very busy Saturday on the 23rd December, with over 2.8 million transactions in shops on the same day last year, making it the busiest day of the year for in store spending. It’s great to see people shopping in store as it not only supports Irish businesses and jobs, it also ensures that the products we buy have a lower carbon footprint as they aren’t traveling hundreds of kilometres before reaching us.”
