Irish women prefer music to fashion: report

03-12-2007

by Emmet Ryan

Ryanair and iTunes are the most popular retail sites amongst Irish women, according to online voucher payment firm 3V Transactions Services.

The study of over 16,000 women that use the firm's payment vouchers found that travel and music sites were more popular with Irish women than fashion sites. Play.com and Amazon were amongst the most popular sites with eBay and Aer Lingus also featuring high up the food chain.

"It is interesting to note the difference between our Irish and UK customers. Irish women seem to prefer the bustle of shopping on the high street while their UK counterparts seem more inclined to opt for virtual shopping," said Federica Bonato, head of Marketing with 3V Transactions UK and Ireland.

Two online supermarkets, Tesco and Asda, and one fashion retailer, Next, made it into the top 10 in a survey of UK shoppers. In contrast, mainstream retailers didn't feature in the top sites selected by Irish women.

"The online shopping industry is also more mature in the UK and giving consumers better choices on line, this is reflected in our findings. However anecdotally we know that many Irish consumers are using the internet for price comparisons and depending on the price differential decide whether to shop online or to purchase on the high street," said Bonato.

According to the survey the highest spenders are 21 to 25 year olds who spend between EUR40 and EUR50 every month online, while the peak shopping periods for Irish women are before and after Christmas with November and January showing sales spikes of 25 percent and 11 percent.

"It is clear more and more people are shopping online in an effort to find unique gifts and gear at Christmas time. However, if people are shopping online for the first time we would warn them to order on time and to shop only at reputable sites," said Bonato.