Christmas shoppers spending €18m every hour

IRISH shoppers are spending €18 million every hour of every day in the run-up to Christmas as cash registers look set to ring in another record year.

The annual Christmas spend is expected to top €3.4 billion this year and Director of the Small Firms Association Pat Delaney estimates that between now and Christmas Eve, consumers will clock up 18m an hour in sales.

Despite fears that an economic slowdown would dampen consumer spending, retailers are reporting brisk trading. A recent survey by Deloitte & Touche estimated that every Irish household would spend €1,395 in the run-up to Christmas.