Surge in popularity of online banking in 2022

Online banking has surged in popularity over the past year, with 90 per cent of internet users now happy to conduct their financial affairs virtually, an increase of more than 10 percentage points in a single year, according to the Central Statistics Office.

By contrast, online clothes shopping is less popular, although the fall of nine percentage points on the 2021 figures is almost certainly as a result of the near total retail lockdowns that were in place for much of the first half of last year.

According to the CSO’s Household Digital Consumer Behaviour report, online banking is now second to email as the most popular internet activity.

All told, 91 per cent of internet users commonly send or receive emails, down slightly on 2021 figures, with 90 per cent of users now banking online.

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Just over 80 per cent of internet users bought goods or services online in the first half of this year, up two percentage points on the same period in 2021.

Clothes, shoes and accessories were the most commonly bought goods online this year, with 71 per cent of internet users saying they had shopped online across these categories, a fall of nine percentage points on 2021 figures. Women were significantly more likely to buy in these categories than men; 83 per cent compared to 59 per cent.

Dubliners were the most active online consumers, with 87 per cent likely to shop online, followed by people living in the southeast on 84 per cent, while users in the midlands region were the least likely to shop online with CSO data putting the percentage on 70 per cent.

Just under six in 10 internet users bought ready-made or takeaway food online.

“There were varying levels of Covid-19 restrictions in place in the first half of 2022,” noted the CSO’s Maureen Delamere. “The pandemic resulted in greater use of ICT and the internet, and, at times, different patterns of digital consumer behaviour.”

She highlighted the popularity of accessing public services online. “Almost four in 10 internet users in 2022 made an online appointment or reservation with public authorities or services, such as with the National Driver Licence Service, the Passport Office, or a public health appointment with a hospital,” she said.

“At an overall level, of internet users who had accessed the online services of a public authority or service, more than six in 10 had encountered no problems at all. One in four said the digital platform was difficult to use and not user-friendly, while one in five experienced technical problems, such as when setting up their MyGovID to access online public services.”