Research & Innovation

This represents a 17pc increase on last year’s figures.

Visa Europe is forecasting that there will be approximately a million e-commerce transactions by Irish consumers on Visa debit, Visa credit and Visa prepaid cards between Black Friday, 28 November and Cyber Monday, representing €74m in purchases.

Over the course of the month of December alone, Irish online shoppers will ring up seven million e-commerce transactions with their Visa cards, bringing the total level of e-commerce spending over the four-week period to €474m.

Visa Europe also revealed that Irish e-commerce spending with Visa cards – debit, credit and prepaid – has risen to €4.6bn on annual basis, a new record high, reflecting the rising popularity of online spending.

This means that Irish Visa cardholders are now spending €8,925 online every minute on an average day.

“Online shopping is exploding in Ireland, with Irish e-tailers attracting customers at home and from all across the world. At Visa Europe, we are enabling Irish companies to take advantage of the possibilities that e-commerce presents by making sure that online spending is safe and convenient,” said Conor Langford, Ireland country manager, Visa Europe.

“Visa Europe remains committed to developing new products to make online shopping even easier in order to create more opportunities for Irish companies so they can gain even more customers in the future.”