Irish household expenditure has seen its fastest growth in almost two years thanks to the recent heatwave driving consumers out of the house and into the shops.
The sentiment comes from Visa's Irish Consumer Spending Index, which measures expenditure across all payment types, which found that consumer spending increased by 5.5% year-on-year in June.
June's spending was also 3.7% higher than that in May, signalling the fastest rise in household spending since July 2016.
Visa reports that growth was "solid" in both the online channel and in face-to-face. E-commerce's growth eased somewhat to a three month low, with an increase of 5.5%. Face-to-face, which saw a 5.4% increase, saw the strongest rise since January.
The fastest growing sector was once again the Household Goods sector. A 13% year-on-year increase saw Household Goods champion the eight other sectors monitored, due to home improvement stores selling goods such as BBQs and garden furniture performing well.
Double-digit growth was also seen in the Hotels, Restaurants & Bars sector, which saw spending increase by 10%, with publicans and hoteliers reporting a heatwave boost with families enjoying 'staycations' in Ireland, as well as sporting and music events helping to drive footfall.
Household spending on Food and Drink reached a three-month high in June, up 7.9% year-on-year. Clothing and Footwear grew by 5.0%, Transport and Communication saw spending jump by 7.0% and Recreation and Culture categories rose by 4.5%, with summer clothing and outdoor events proving popular due to the good weather.