Economy

Black Friday and Cyber Monday drive growth in spending

By Business & Finance
09 December 2015

The latest Visa Europe Irish Consumer Spending Index in November saw the strong expansion, with spending rising across all payment methods.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were two of the key factors for the spike in consumer spending during the month.

Ecommerce spending was up +11.2% as Irish consumers flocked online for deals on Cyber Monday.

Numerous Irish retailers reported strong growth over the course of the Black Friday weekend into Cyber Monday.

High-profile music concerts and Ireland’s international sporting success during the month helped to drive spending at hotels, restaurants and bars up by +13.2%.

Conor Langford, country manager, Ireland, Visa Europe, said: “The Black Friday weekend topped off a record month for Irish consumer spending across all payment methods in November, with Christmas shopping now well underway. While we did not witness raucous scenes in-store over the Black Friday weekend, consumer spending was still considerably up. Similarly Irish consumers took advantage of Cyber Monday, placing orders on the last day of the month in a bid for gifts to arrive before Christmas day. It was not all about Christmas shopping though as consumers enjoyed themselves on nights out, with Ireland’s success in the Euro 2016 play-offs and the series of U2 concerts among the highlights.”

Andrew Harker, senior economist, Markit, commented: “The data signals the strong positive impacts of rising consumer confidence, a drop in unemployment from one year ago, plus increased wages, and adds to the picture of impressive performance of the Irish economy. We would therefore expect official GDP and consumer-spending data to continue to show sharp rises, once they become available. In the month of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events, the data suggest that retailers were able to generate greater spending. It remains to be seen, however, whether this will have been Christmas shopping brought forward to take advantage of discounts, or additional spending providing a boost to the economy.”