Plastic becoming king as consumers turn to card

While cash has long been singled out as being king, Irish consumers appear to be increasingly turning to plastic as their preferred method of paying for goods over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.

Figures from Bank of Ireland show a record 12.38 million transactions occurred on Black Friday, an increase of 15 per cent on the same day last year.

The bank’s figures show that eagle-eyed consumers looking to pick up a bargain started their shopping early, and demand was highest from 8am to 11am.

With the increasing popularity in contactless payments came a drop in ATM transactions of 11 per cent from 2016. Meanwhile, the volume of people paying for their goods at the counter soared by almost one-third.

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While Black Friday was the more successful day of the weekend, Cyber Monday wasn’t far off with 11.9 million transactions being recorded – a 10 per cent increase in the number of payments the bank processed last year.

Overall, the bank recorded a 13 per cent increase in spend year on year in consumer purchases. This came as the number of customer transactions climbed by 21 per cent.