365 transactions per second. This was the operations peak (physical purchases + online purchases + withdrawals) reached on December 23, 2022, at 12:12 pm, and represents a historic maximum in the MULTIBANCO Network. Data from SIBS Analytics, which you can see in the attachment, show that December 23 was also the day with the highest number of daily physical purchases on the MULTIBANCO Network, with 82 basis points above the daily average for the year, i.e. almost doubled the total number of purchases compared to the average for the year.
SIBS Analytics’ most recent data, and as can be seen in the attached infographic, reveal that consumption in Portugal, in the month of December 2022, increased compared to the previous year, registering a 20% growth in number. The advance was, however, more expressive in online purchases: they increased by 31%, in 2022, while physical purchases registered a 19% increase compared to the same period of 2021. As for the average value per purchase (physical and online), this registered a decrease of 2.6% compared to 2021, standing at €36.30.
Online commerce continues to record a growth trajectory: online payments already account for 15% of total payments verified in December 2022, one percentage point more than in the previous year.
In this sense, MB WAY also continues to be an increasingly popular choice for the Portuguese when it comes to paying for their purchases, something that is visible both in online purchases and in physical purchases. In the last month of 2022, a period typically marked by a high number of transactions, in-store payments through MB WAY grew 5x compared to the same period of 2020 and online purchases registered a 3x increase compared to the same period.
As for the sectors with the greatest increase in payments, those that registered the greatest number of purchases variation in December 2022 compared to the rest of the year (January-November 2022) were Games & Toys (sector that grew 3.2x), Perfumery & Cosmetics (2.3x) and Home & Decor (2.0x).
Data from SIBS Analytics also allow to deepen the analysis of out-of-home consumption, with the number of physical purchases made by the Portuguese abroad during the month of December registering a growth of 57% compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of purchases with foreign cards in Portugal grew 60% compared to December 2021.
Other indicators considered relevant can be analyzed in the infographic below.