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The impact of Level 5 restrictions on consumer spending has been revealed in figures released by the Federation of Banking and Payments.
Cash withdrawals from ATMs and card spending decreased in October, due to the closure of non-essential retail stores.
But online shopping flourished, with more consumers buying Irish as a growing number of local businesses sell their products on websites.
Shoppers will spend around € 6 billion over the Christmas period, but Retail Excellence Ireland said it will not make up for losses incurred during the six weeks of Level 5 restrictions.
The figures just released by the Federation of Banking and Payments on the use of contactless payments for October show that they fell to levels not seen since June.
There were almost two million contactless payments per day, well below what would normally be expected.
However, we still spend 28 million euros touching our cards EVERY DAY during the month.
Figures released by the federation also reveal that in the two days before the October restrictions were introduced, spending increased by 22% as consumers prepared for the shutdown.
Then it fell in the next five days (up to 15.4% weekly).
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