The latest spending report, compiled from approximately 70 million debit and credit card transactions, has unveiled a notable increase in hardware and homeware purchases. Hardware spending rose by 8% over the month, while homeware purchases saw a 4% increase during the same period. The data indicates that individuals aged 55-64 and those aged 65 and over had the highest rise in their average daily spend on hardware. Men, on the other hand, spent 43% more than women on hardware last month, according to AIB.
Additionally, Irish consumers demonstrated an 8% increase in spending on health and beauty products, while clothing expenditure rose by 3% in May. The data also revealed an 11% surge in clothing spend among those under the age of 25. AIB attributed these increases to the good weather and the anticipation of upcoming summer holidays.
Furthermore, airline travel spending rose by 2% in May, reflecting the overall trend of increased expenditure. However, hospitality spend experienced a decline during the month, with pub spending down by 12% and hotel spending decreasing by 10%. Consumers also spent 6% less on restaurants. It’s worth noting that May had one less weekend compared to April this year, which may have contributed to these declines.
Despite these decreases, the May Bank Holiday saw a significant increase in spending, with restaurant spend in Ireland doubling compared to the previous week and pub spend tripling on the same day. Hotel spend also rose by over a third as individuals chose to go on getaways during the long weekend.
While grocery shopping remained the highest expenditure category last month, it remained relatively steady compared to April. Research group Kantar reported a slight drop in grocery price inflation in May. Over the 12 weeks leading up to May 14, grocery prices increased by 16.5% compared to the same period last year. However, this only represented a 0.1% decrease from April and marked the second consecutive monthly decline.
Coastal counties, except for Sligo, experienced increased average daily spending as people flocked to the beaches to soak up the sun during the month.
John Brennan, the head of SME banking at AIB, commented on the findings, stating, “Our comprehensive data spans a wide range of demographics, and it’s interesting to note that older individuals showed the greatest increase in hardware spend, while younger people demonstrated the highest increase in clothing spend.”
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