IBEC - Newsroom - Retail Ireland reaction to CSO retail sales figures

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Retail Ireland, the IBEC group that represents the Irish retail sector, today said that new CSO retail sales figures highlight the difficult trading environment that the retail sector continues to face.

Retail Ireland director Torlach Denihan said: "The volume of core retail sales, excluding car and bar sales, fell by 0.6% in May compared with April but increased by 1.9% when compared with May 2009. Unfortunately and more importantly the value of sales fell in May by 0.7% compared with April and by 1.7% when compared with May 2009. This means that the value of sales for the first five months of the year is below the corresponding 2009 figures due to price reductions.

"The retail sector is in survival-mode, dealing with a huge decline in sales and a very high cost base. The amount of money retailers are taking in at the tills has fallen by 25% on average over the last 30 months but rents, service charges, wages and commercial rates remain too high. Retailers have cut prices to survive, but more needs to be done. Government must take decisive action to get the Irish cost base back into line with the rest of Europe," concluded Mr Denihan.

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IBEC - Newsroom

Retail Ireland reaction to CSO retail sales figures

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