Despite challenging economic conditions globally, the online industry is seemingly still on the up according to figures released by Realex Payments. On Cyber Monday the company processed €22.6 Million equating to over €942,000 per hour spent by online shoppers !

"Cyber Monday” as it's referred to in the online trade, is the Monday after "Black Friday" in the USA (the day after Thanksgiving), and is one of the last days to shop online ensuring delivery prior to Christmas.

The online channel appears to bucking the current downward trends by continuing to experience positive growth figures. Dun Laoghaire based Realex Payments has processed in excess of 26 million transactions valued at a staggering €4.9Billion, and expect this to increase to over 30 Million transactions by the end of December – taking into account seasonal high transaction volumes.

These figures show a significant 31% increase in transaction volumes (18m) over the same eleven month period in 2007 when online shoppers spent €3.4Billion .

It's been a good year all round for Realex Payments as they were recognised in the Irish Software Associations Annual Awards, the most prestigious ceromony for the Irish software industry. (Read More)

Key highlights:

• On Monday, December 1st, Realex Payments processed over 112,000 transactions valued at €22.6million - almost one million euro per hour spent online in one day.  

• This figure is €10million more than the peak figure last year, when on ‘Cyber Monday’ (December 8th 2007), Realex Payments processed transactions valued at €12.7Million.

• Consumers are spending more online - the average transaction value on Monday December 1st was €202 up from a high of €168 in 2007.

• Realex Payments has processed transactions valued at almost €5Billion euro so far in 2008

• In 2008 the average value of transactions processed per day by Realex Payments has almost doubled reaching €15.3million in comparison the average daily spend online in 2007 was €7.9 million.

• The number of people starting to sell online is also increasing, Realex Payments sign up on average 82 new clients each month, but peaking at 104 clients in October, reinforcing the fact that the online channel is still a very attractive option for most businesses to increase sales.

So what are people buying online?

Realex Payments has seen an increase in activity across all sectors; however some sectors have shown significant increases in the volumes of transactions:

• Online retail: The online marketplace offers more opportunity for consumers to seek out a bargain and as such the sector has seen an increase of 40% over the same period in 2007. Over 1.5 million transactions made through online retailers.

• Online Travel & holidays: despite difficult conditions for many involved in the travel sector, there is still a substantial amount of flights, hotel rooms and holidays being sold online, figures from Realex Payments show an increase of 46% in the number of bookings made online. Tied to this online , online car rentals also showed an increase of 43%. 

• Insurance: The number of insurance policies purchased online (both car and health insurance policies) increased by 41%. With many insurance companies offering big discounts for purchasing via their website, more and more people are purchasing their insurance online.

• Utilities: Regardless of any economic downturn, people still need to pay their gas, electricity, and other utility bills. The number of consumers paying their utility bills online or via their utility provider’s call centre has increased by over 100%.

• Charity Donations: Despite the economic slow down, people are still showing their charitable side, with online donations to charities increasing by 45%. Annual trends indicate that charitable donations peak around the Christmas period, so statistics for December should further reinforce this.

Founder and Managing Director of Realex Payments Colm Lyon (pictured above) commented “The internet offers a huge opportunity for  companies of all sizes  to reach new customers and increase sales in new regions which is particularly important in challenging times we’re currently experiencing."

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