The COVID-19 crisis has changed the way consumers are spending, with a huge shift towards contactless payments being seen in shops across the country.
Data collected from over 1 million debit card transactions by AIB at the start of this month reveals that consumers are spending 30% more per transaction using contactless since the limit was increased.
Consumers are also spending more using digital wallets – with average spending among Apple Pay and Google Pay users up by over 40% as they look to avoid unnecessary interactions in stores.
When broken down demographically, the data also reveals that since 1 April, Digital Wallet spend now accounts for 37% of all instore transactions by those who are under 25.
The average amount this age group are spending in store is up 24% and 35% for Apple Pay and Google Pay respectively.
The average amount per transaction being spent by those between the age of 25 and 34 is up 41% among Apple Pay users and 45% among Google Pay users. However digital wallet transactions only account for 7% of the total instore spend by this age group.
Fergal Coburn, Chief Digital & Innovation Officer at AIB said: “As seen from our insights, COVID-19 has rapidly changed the behaviour of Irish consumers and how they spend their money.
“The data shows a shift across all demographics towards spending more using contactless payments since the spending limit was increased to €50 at the start of April.
“What is even more interesting is the shift towards Apple Pay and Google Pay, which have a higher limit than contactless on cards, which points to consumers looking to further avoid unnecessary interactions with chip and pin terminals and pay for more of their goods and services using contactless.”
The data also revealed that customers over the age of 45 are spending 31% more using their digital wallets and that contactless is the most popular choice of instore payment method among all age cohorts, except those under 25.
