Vat hike and poor sentiment blamed as sales fall for 12th consecutive quarter

Retail sales fell for the 12th consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2012, although a pick-up was evident in March.

New figures published yesterday by Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) showed that sales fell by an average of 2.56%, year-on-year, during the first quarter Taking the three months individually, January saw the biggest fall — sales down by over 4.7% year-on-year — while February saw a slight improvement, with a 1.68% year-on-year fall recorded.

Retail sales were up by just over 0.7%, year-on-year in March.