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THE IRISH ECOMMERCE sector is thriving but face-to-face sales are declining, it has been warned.
Overall spending rose by 3.6% year-on-year in December but this increase was the weakest registered since the consumer spending index began in 2014.
The report by Visa found that online spending is growing at “a substantial pace”, registering a rise of 15.4%. Shop sales dropped by 0.3%.
According to the report, the clothing and footwear sector continues to struggle, with expenditure declining for the fifth month running.
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While the overall rate of consumer spending has continued to slow, December was a positive month for most sectors.
Growth
Spending on household goods rose by 4.3% with consumers purchasing items like home appliances as gifts. Hotels, restaurants and bars saw the rate of expansion quicken to a three-month high of 5.8% year-on-year.
There was also a spike in entertainment over the festive period. Food and drink businesses also posted a return to growth of spending of 2.9% compared to 2015′s figures.
Visa’s country manager, Philip Konopik, said: “The large shift to online shopping in the run-up to Christmas continued in December with consumers seeking to take advantage of the value on offer from UK online retailers due to the sterling exchange rate.
Despite this there are a number of positives to be drawn from the data, with a range of sectors such as hotels, restaurants, bars and grocery retailers clearly benefiting from the festive period.
“The last quarter has seen the growth in overall consumer spending slip below five percent each month however, and it will be interesting to observe whether this trend continues into the first quarter of 2017.”
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That’s a bit of a no-brainier. People have set budgets and if they send their money on-line then of course shop sales will drop. I do a lot of window-shopping and see items I want to buy and then go home and order them on-line at a cheaper price..
There’s room for both high street shops and online retail.
Most people will want to try on a suit before buying it. It’s just most people don’t want to get completely gouged just because it’s being sold on Grafton St.
Got cashback over £70 sterling from flubit for all presents bought online last month. It’s a no brainer when you have the likes of Debenhams selling drones for €110 instore when you can buy them online in the UK for £25. People aren’t stupid.
Lets be real, even without the sterling collapse it’s better value to buy online from the UK than Irish stores. Irish business need to shape up, they’re part of a global marketplace now where people will gravitate towards the best offer.
Well in all fairness shops have been robbing us for years. So if you can find what you want on the web then good luck to you. After all the amount you can save means more money in your pocket. There’s a massive gap in shop prices and web prices for the same product so why would you pay more.
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