Retailers hoping for spike in spending before New Year

The winter sales are in full swing today with retailers hoping that lower-than-expected pre-Christmas spending will be reversed.

Retail Ireland was predicting a 2% annual rise in December sales worth €80m.

However, feedback from key retailers suggests that a surge in shopping between now and the New Year is still needed to hit these levels.

Thomas Burke, Director of Retail Ireland, said: "We had a good start to December, but there was a bit of a lag in the middle of the month and there was a bit of weakness there in the market at that stage.

"We are hopeful that the extra day of Christmas week will lead to a late shopping surge and make up for that in some way.

"We are also hopeful that the early days of the traditional January sales will perform quite well."