Household spending across all payment types (cash, cheques and electronic payments), signalled 'the fastest acceleration in consumer spending in six months' for the month of September, according to the latest Visa's Irish Consumer Spending Index.
The index showed that expenditure has shown an increase of +3.1% year-on-year last month, a faster rise than in August (+2.3%) and the sharpest overall since March (+4.2%).
After having fallen fractionally in August (-0.1%), spending increased in the Food & Drink sector in September (+3.8%).
Philip Konopik, country manager, Ireland, Visa said: “This month’s Irish Consumer Spending Index paints a positive picture for the Irish retail sector, which enjoyed its best quarter this year."
Face-to-Face
For the first time in a year, consumers returned to the high street as growth in Face-to-Face spending was recorded, the index showed.
"eCommerce continued to drive the growth in spending, however Face-to-Face spending also played its part, demonstrating its first increase in twelve months." Konopik said.
The report indicated that at +1.8% year-on-year, the pace of increase was modest, but represented a significant turnaround for the Irish retail sector following a -2.2% fall in expenditure in August and a consistent decrease for the past eleven months (since September 2016 at +0.7%).
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
