Irish salons and spas among main financial beneficiaries of 29 June reopening

Irish hairdressers, barbers and spas were among the main financial beneficiaries of the Phase 3 reopening of the economy on 29 June, according to transaction data from Revolut.

Revolut is a financial technology company that offers customers a prepaid debit card for chip, contactless and online payments and ATM withdrawals at home and abroad. It has a mobile app that can be used to project and track spending by category, merchant and country. It has one million Irish customers.

Excluding online shopping, overall spending across 15 categories on 29 June, the date of a major lockdown exit in Ireland, was up 52% compared to average daily spending during the Covid-19 lockdown.

High demand for personal grooming services resulted in a significant upturn in the hair and beauty sector, with spending at hairdressers and barbers up 72%, versus the daily average prior to the imposing of restrictions.

Revolut said the data suggests that prices charged by hair and beauty providers increased only marginally, with customers spending an average of €37.81 in hairdressers and barbers on the day, compared to an average before lockdown of €36.15.

Spending on spa services was also up by nearly half, compared to the average spend prior to restrictions being put in place.

Spending was also almost back at average daily levels for the month before the pandemic led to the restrictions. Compared to a regular Monday prior to lockdown, the overall spend on Monday, 29 June was up 23%.