October’s hospitality card spend down 23% on September

The latest monthly data from Bank of Ireland for October captures the impact of the nationwide Level 3 and Level 5 restrictions introduced on the 6th and the 22nd of October respectively.

 

Following an increase in card spending in the social sector over the Summer months, October data recorded a second consecutive monthly decline.

October’s Restaurants/Dining sector witnessed a decrease of 24% in Year-on-Year card spend, from €321.7 million to €243.1 million and a Month-on-Month decrease of 23% from €314.4 million in September.

Card spending in the services sector therefore remained lower in both Y-o-Y and M-o-M terms while spending in the social sector decreased significantly.

The BofI figures show that total PoS spending increased by 8% Y-o-Y, driven by increases in the retail sector and in particular the groceries and hardware sub-sectors.

In a Fast Moving Consumer Goods update to the middle of December, market researchers Nielsen found that despite the hospitality sector being mainly closed, the slowing growth in alcohol sales was at its lowest since August, up just 28%.

 

Off-trade

Alcohol remained the biggest main contributor to retail market value growth in the 12 week period to mid-November, with beer, wine & spirits sales up 27% in the week ending on the 15th of November, Nielsen points out.

Thus alcohol continues to be the biggest contributor to overall retail market growth, accounting for 27% of incremental sales in those 12 weeks.