DUBLIN: Black Friday, the Irish Shopping Festival, is on November 27th. AIB’s latest data show that consumers are spending large amounts of money online every minute of the day during Black Friday. It is hoped that this will provide a unique opportunity for Irish businesses in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
The AIB found that last Black Friday, Irish people spent €4,500 per minute buying clothes. New data from AIB shows that this is an increase of 364% compared to the normal day. The bank reveals that on Black Friday, Irish people made 85,000 transactions on clothing websites. This equates to one transaction per second.
This assumes an average of 20,000 daily transactions. This year the sale will take place within the Level 5 restrictions. AIB collected the data from over more than one million anonymous card transactions made last Black Friday. Data shows that clothing is at the forefront of total spending over the past year on electrical goods, hardware, health, cosmetics and jewellery.
Consumers spent €2,200 per minute online to buy electronics. This is an increase of 361% compared to a normal shopping day. According to AIB, there were 16 transactions per minute.
Consumers spent €1,000 per minute on hardware (five transactions) while €190 is spent on health and beauty and €175 is spent on jewellery (both two transactions per minute). They also spent an average of €75 on clothing, €119 on electronics, €204 on hardware, €77 on health and beauty and €137 on jewellery.
The busiest time for online shopping on Black Friday is between 10 and 11am, followed by 9pm to 10pm. Four transactions per second took place during these peak hours. While women prefer to shop online at 10am, men prefer 10pm.
AIB head of SME Rachel Naughton said this year’s Black Friday will not be the same as last time, as many Irish businesses are currently closed as a result of Level 5 restrictions. AIB urges customers to support their local business wherever possible during this difficult times.
AIB has warned people to be wary of phishing emails, as more people will be shopping online on Black Friday this year. Ms. Naughton added that 50 million global fraud attempts are expected this holiday season.