Visa: Consumer Spending grew in August

eCommerce is on the rise, still, according to Visa

Visa's latest Consumer Spending Index for Ireland has been published, showing a growth in consumer spending for August, inconjunction with a decrease in face-to-face spending.

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Visa has published the latest edition of its Consumer Spending Index, revealing that Irish household spending rose by 2.5% year-on-year in August. The rate of expansion also grew from July, meaning that Irish spending has seen a year-on-year increase for the past six consecutive months.

While this sort of growth is encouraging, the growing gap between face-to-face spending and eCommerce is a source of consternation for business owners. The latter saw another sharp increase of 11.5% year-on-year, the fastest it has been since March.

Face-to-face spending, meanwhile, continued to decline for the eleventh consecutive month. The decline of -2% year-on-year was the most pronounced since the Index for May.

Commenting on the latest results, Andrew Harker, senior economist at IHS Markit said Irish consumer spending “continues to tick along nicely.

“Falling unemployment, higher earnings, rising confidence and muted inflationary pressures are all providing support to spending at present,” Harker said. “Sterling weakness could again be playing a role in household spending decisions, while a surge in eCommerce growth in contrast with a fall in high street spend is a reflection of consumers potentially looking online for savings.”

Read More: Visa Consumer Spending Index

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