Cypriots spend 33% more abroad, Cyprus e-commerce triples

Are Cypriots richer than they were a year ago? Probably yes, judging from the rapid increase of their spending habits at home, abroad or even online.

On average, Cypriots have so far spent CYP 159 mln (EUR 271 mln) or about 33% more overseas using credit cards in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year, overtaking for the first time the total spend of tourists and foreign card-holders in Cyprus, who injected CYP 144 mln (EUR 245 mln)

Even though the average per swipe of a card showed no change from last year’s CYP 91 (EUR 156), the number of transactions has also gone up by 33%, according to the credit cards clearing house, JCC Payment Systems. This means that Cypriots have spent more in total and paid for more goods or services this year than the first seven months of last year. Visitors, however, are still paying less here than Cypriot are paying abroad.

E-commerce is also growing at a fast pace with more businesses adopting online payment systems and more people from all age groups shifting to the Internet to shop for goods and services.

JCC General Manager Takis Fekkos told the Financial Mirror that e-commerce transactions in the first seven months of 2007 tripled to CYP 25.47 mln (EUR 43.5 mln) compared to CYP 8.8 mln (EUR 15 mln) for the whole of 2006. The number of transactions in January-July 2007 reached 285.069 with the number of merchants with Internet sites open for business at 222.

Transactions processed included government dues, travel agency and airlines, subscriptions, utility bills, hotel bookings and gaming.

Fekkos said the value for Mail Order/Telephone Order transactions (processed manually) jumped to CYP 6.6 mln (EUR 11.2 mln) in Jan.-July compared to CYP 4.03 mln (EUR 6.8 mln) for the whole of 2006 with the number of transactions at 53.858 and the number of business establishments at 138. These are trades booked through the telephone and not involving the Internet.

Included in the overall e-commerce and MO/TO transactions worth CYP 32.13 mln in the first seven months of 2007 are 20 merchants or operators based outside Cyprus for whom JCC provides full scale support and clearing services.

JCC is Cyprus’s e-commerce pioneer and main driving force behind efforts to boost online transactions. The banks-owned consortium has collects the payment of road taxes on behalf of the government, while through its JCCepay, customers can settle municipal and utility bills, association subscriptions, as well as insurance company invoices. Through JCCkiosk, customers can top up Cytamobile and areeba prepaid cards while a number of merchants have also joined its JCCeshops network.

 

— Cypriots near 2006 total spend

 

The latest figures released by JCC show that Cypriot card-holders spent CYP 503,3 mln (EUR 860 mln) in retail payments at home, a 20% increase from same-period spending last year. This amounted to an average per transaction of CYP 43 (EUR 74), up two pounds from last year.

This is fast approaching the total 2006 figure of CYP 769,9 mln (EUR 1,32 bln), while Cypriot credit cards paid out a total CYP 226 mln (EUR 386 mln) abroad last year.

However, July seems to be the best month for embarking on a spending spree with Cypriot cardholders paying out some CYP 84 mln at home, up 16% from the same period last year.

Overseas payments by Cyprus-issued cards clocked up CYP 159 mln (EUR 271 mln) during the first seven months of the year, up 33% from the same-period spending last year. This helped the locals overtake the visitors in spending power, as tourists have so far paid for some CYP 144 mln (EUR 245 mln) using their credit cards, up 6% from the same period last year.

Considering that tourist arrivals have only now started to pick up, quite late into the season, this foreign exchange imbalance could also contribute to a sizeable money flow surplus by the end of the year.

Cypriots spent on average CYP 91 per each transaction, while visitors paid CYP 87 per credit card swipe, up two pounds from the same-period figure for 2006.

Cypriots overdid themselves in July when it came to spending abroad by credit card, probably on travel, food and shopping expeditions. The total bill for the month came to CYP 25 mln, up 36% from July 2006, while tourists spent CYP 31 mln during the month in Cyprus, up 9% from July 2006.