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.

“Despite the gloomy prospects for the economy, 98% of Irish consumers intend to celebrate Christmas this year,” head of consumer business at Deloitte & Touche Brendan Jennings said.

“In spite of the fall in consumer confidence and some feelings of job insecurity, many Irish consumers appear to be planning to use this Christmas to ‘let off steam’ by spending significant amounts on gifts, food, drink and socialising.”

IIB Bank chief economist Austin Hughes said consumers were spending the money they earned during the year and relying on the promise of lower interest rates in the new year to fund their spending spree: “There was no tax giveaway in the Budget and there are no wage bonanzas to look forward to in the new year, so many people are using money they have built up over the last number of years - and their credit cards, of course.

“The economic hangover in the new year will be severe when everyone has to pay back loans and the money owed on the credit cards because there are no tax cuts to look forward to or pay rises.”

While Irish shoppers racked up the biggest spending spree in the history of the State last year driven by the euro changeover, early indications are that retail sales will be up 5% across the board this Christmas, he said.

The Deloitte & Touche survey found that the average spend per household on gifts would be €567, compared to a European average of €446. A typical Irish household will also spend €280 on food and drink, €263 on clothes and up to €285 on socialising this year.

Three quarters of Irish men are hoping to find their Christmas stocking filled with a CD, DVD or video and electronic goods such as TVs, video players or DVD players.

Top of the wish list for women is clothing, mentioned by 83% surveyed, CDs, DVDs or videos (74%), books (63%) and cosmetics or fragrances.

However, children are hoping Santa will deliver a computer game on Christmas morning. The top presents for under 12s are computer games consoles or games, with Playstation being the most popular, Harry Potter toys and merchandising, and dolls.

However, Christmas spending will not end on Christmas Eve. More than half of the shoppers surveyed said they would delay at least some of their Christmas shopping until the last minute to get larger discounts, with 15% saying that they will put off their shopping until after Christmas Day.

And 3% of the population said they will put off all Christmas shopping in order to obtain last-minute bargains. So the Christmas spend looks set to continue well into next week.