Scrappage scheme drives retail sales up 6%

THE car scrappage scheme has prised open consumers’ wallets to push retail sales up by 6% in a year, as new car sales surged 35.4%.

Retail sales volumes increased by 6.0% in April 2010 compared to April 2009, according to the Central Statistics Office. There was a monthly increase of 1.8%. However, if “motor trades” are excluded the volume of retail sales increased by just 0.3% in April 2010 compared to April 2009 and the monthly change was -0.2%.

The good news for retailers is that this is the first year-on-year increase in the volume of retail sales (excluding motor trades) since March 2008.