Monday the 3rd of December was expected to be a busy days for online retailers and it has been referred to as “Cyber Monday” in the online trade. The reason being that it was one of the last days to shop online ensuring delivery prior to Christmas.
And so it was – a record €12.7 million in online sales was processed by Realex Payments, who estimate that over 80% of these transactions were to Irish consumers, proving that the Irish online market is a significant channel for businesses.
Colm Lyon the founder and managing director of Realex Payments commented that “this figure is even more significant when you look at the same day last year (the first Monday of December 2006 – the 4th) when the value we processed was €8.4 million – so this year’s figure represents an increase of 51% over the same day last year. At a time when the overall retail growth rate is starting to decline this shows a major trend towards buying and selling online”.
According to Lyon, the busiest hour on ‘bumper Monday’ was from 11am to midday. “During one hour Realex Payments processed over €1.35m which equates to an average spend online of €22,500 per minute.”
For the first twelve days of December alone, the average daily spend online was over €7.9 million, compared to an average spend of just €3.7 million per day in December in 2005. Consumers are also spending more, the average transaction was €168 compared to an average transaction value of €152 for the same period last year.
The growth in online trade is reflected with Realex Payments recently announcing major expansion plans; with the creation of 50 jobs in the next 18 months and plans to expand further with a dedicated UK office in London.
Colm Lyon added “the online market choice for consumers is now greater than ever with so many more buyers and sellers emerging, each side is attracting of the other. In addition to large retailers selling bigger volumes online we have noticed a sizeable increase in the number of small and medium size businesses who are really taking advantage of the internet. But Irish businesses are not just selling to Irish consumers – they sell to consumers all over the world so our geographic location is less relevant when it comes to selling online. There’s no doubt that Ireland can emerge as one of the leading e-commerce players on the Global internet stage.”