Visa’s Irish Consumer Spending Index recorded the first back-to-back fall in household expenditure in June, and the sharpest decline in spending since the series began in September 2014.
The Index, which is produced by IHS Markit and measures expenditure across all payment types (cash, cheques and electronic payments), found that spending also fell on an annual basis across the second quarter as a whole (-0.9%).
The overall fall in spending reflected declines in both eCommerce (-0.5% y.o.y) and high street (-3.7% y.o.y) expenditure.
The Food, Beverages and Tobacco sector saw a 2.5% drop in spending, while Household Goods saw a 2.1% increase during the month.
Cause For Concern
Visa said that face-to-face spending, which dropped for the second consecutive month in June, while e-commerce expenditure fell for the first time since October 2017 in its readings.
Philip Konopik, Ireland Country Manager, Visa said that this points to “a cause for concern”, highlighting that only three sectors posted increases in expenditure last month.
Associate Director at IHS Markit, Andrew Harker, agreed that the figures “make for concerning reading”, calling it the sharpest decline seen in almost five years.
“Reductions were seen both on the high street and online, with a range of sectors impacted,” he explained.
“On a more positive note, consumer confidence looks to be picking up modestly, which will hopefully act to arrest the decline in spending in the coming months.”
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
