AIB : Christmas Eve rush for men to buy presents as AIB reveals Christmas spending habits

20th December 2021

Christmas Eve rush for men to buy presents as AIB reveals Christmas spending habits

• Irish consumers will be shopping local this Christmas with busiest day expected to be Thursday 23rd
• Country people now shop in Dublin on the Friday before Christmas instead of the traditional December 8th
• Those from Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Limerick are expected to be the biggest Christmas shoppers this year - spending a combined average of €27 million a day in the run up to the
  25th

The old adage of men leavingtheir Christmas shopping untilthe last minutestillrings true as newdata from AIB reveals that men outspend women by 8% on Christmas Eve,the only day in December where men spend more. As a whole, during the month women outspend men by 23%, with the busiest shopping period for women being between 19th and 23rd December.

Overall, the busiest day for Christmas shopping is expected to be 23rd December, with many consumers shopping local due to how close it is to Christmas. On 23rd December, Irish consumers are expected to spend over €7 million an hour as they rush to buy last minute gifts for Christmas Day.

Traditions changing

Traditionally, December 8th was when country people came to Dublin to do their shopping, however the data reveals they now do their shopping in the capital on the Friday before Christmas. This year, that is Friday 17th December. Those coming to Dublin for the day are expected to spend almost half a million euro an hour throughout the day in shops and restaurants.

John Brennan, Head of SME Banking at AIB said "It has never been more important that we support local business where possible this Christmas. Businesses will welcome the fact that consumers will likely spend over €7million an hour during the 23rd, the expectedbusiest shopping day for Christmas this year. Shopping local not only supports Irish businesses and jobs, it also ensures that the products we buy have less of a carbon footprint as they aren't traveling hundreds of kilometresbefore reaching us."

The data was compiled from over one million card transactions carried out by Irish consumers online during December 2020 and has been anonymised and aggregated. Data provided by AIB features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland. Based on this data, AIB can reveal that:

• The busiest time for shopping throughout the entire month of December is expected to be between 12pm and 1pm Thursday 23rd December. The busiest timefor shopping on Christmas Eve is expected to be between 12pm and 1pm as shoppers make a last minute dash for items before the big day. Groceries are the most popular item during this Christmas Eve period, followed by Hardware.
• In the run up to Christmas consumers are spending over €18 million a day on grocery shopping, with almost €6 million being spent on clothes a day.

• Those between the age of 35 and 44 are expected to spend almost €14 million a day in
  December, and will spendthe most over themonth whencomparedwithany other age group.
• Those from Cork, Dublin, Tipperaryand Limerick are expected to spendthe most on Christmas this year - spending a combined average of €27 million a day during December.
• Contactless payments account for 55% of all transactions over Christmas.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

• Merchant sectors are self-identified by businesses themselves.
• *Based on total spend throughout the day over a twelve hour period.

Further Information

Graham Union

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085 208 8343