Jingle bills
When it comes to Christmas, it appears that we are a nation of last minute shoppers! Data from AIB reveals that the busiest time of the year for Christmas spending in store last year was between 12pm and 1pm on 23 December, with over €12m spent in that hour alone.
Customers carried out 2.8 million transactions in shops on 23 December 2022, 84% higher than the average day last year.
The busiest hour for in store shopping by men was between 12pm and 1pm on Christmas Eve, as they made a last-minute festive dash to the shops.
When men are buying presents, it’s often for the ladies in their lives. In the week leading up to Christmas 2022, men spent almost twice as much on jewellery as women. When men purchased jewellery, the average transaction was €208, for women it was €106.
Men are also big spenders when it comes to alcohol. In pubs, men spent almost twice as much as women (€3.4m compared to €1.8m). However, women certainly know how to spend too. Women spend more than men on shopping in the run up to Christmas, with the exception of Christmas Eve. In the week leading up to Christmas 63% of the clothing spend was by women, their average transaction was €64, but men spent more per transaction on clothes, their average transaction when buying clothes was €85.
Despite the rise in online shopping, we are still choosing to do our Christmas grocery shop in store. 93% of grocery spend was in store compared to 7% online. 23 December is also the busiest day of the year for grocery shopping in store, with spending 191% higher than the average day in 2022.
Traditionally, 8 December was a busy day for shopping in Dublin, as people travelled from all over the country for the day. However, there was no noticeable increase in spending on 8 December 2022, in line with trends from the previous year, indicating that this tradition may be coming to an end. Unsurprisingly, the quietest day of the year for spending in shops was Christmas Day, however there were still 85,000 transactions in store that day, mostly on fuel supplies.