Average daily spending increased 5% or €93m month-on-month in February, according to new data compiled by AIB from c.60m debit and credit card transactions.

A total of €2.6bn was spent last month across online (36%), chip and pin (33%), digital wallet (18%) and contactless (12%).

The most money was spent of 24 February, coinciding with pay day for many, and least was spent on 19 February, the last Sunday before pay day. Roscommon saw the largest increase in average daily spend at 7%, while Cork had the lowest and 4%.

Grocery spend accounted for most of the overall spend by a significant margin at 18%, followed by health and beauty (5%), hardware (5%), restaurants (5%), clothing (4%), airline travel (3%), hotels (3%), pubs and off-licences (2%), electronics (2%), and homewares (1%).

Pubs and restaurants saw the biggest increase in average daily spend at 26% and 15% respectively, after significant decreases in January of 40% and 23%, respectively.

In Association with

Average daily spend on airline travel fell by 17% in February, following a spike in January of 97%, as people booked holidays abroad to beat the post-Christmas blues.

“The impact of inflation on spending patterns is still evident. The increase in spending in February reflects a return to more normal habits, following a quieter January," said John Brennan, head of SME banking at AIB.

"This is especially true for pubs and restaurants, where there were the biggest month on month increases. People continue to choose to shop online for the most part, however this is followed very closely by in store, using chip and pin.

"There was a 12% increase in people choosing to use their digital wallets to pay, as more of our customers are using their digital devices to pay for goods and services. These data insights are crucial to allow us to continue to support our customers now and into the future.”

The biggest increase in average daily spend on groceries was in Cavan and Clare (both +12%) while the largest increase in daily spend in pubs and off-licences was measured in Monaghan (+36%) and Mayo (+33%), followed by Sligo, Westmeath and Cavan.

The biggest increase in average daily spend on health and beauty was in Waterford at +15%, followed closely by Donegal and Offaly at +14% and +13%, respectively.

People aged 35-44 accounted for most of the overall spend (26%), followed by those aged 25-34 (22%), 45-54 (20%), 55-64 (13%), 65 and over (10%), and under 25 (9%).

Those aged 25-34 and 35-44 had the biggest increase in average daily spend, month on month, at 6%. Conversely, those aged under 25 had the smallest increase in average daily spend at 3%.

(Pic: Getty Images)