Pubs, big stores miss out on consumer spend jump

Pubs and department stores have continued to miss out as an increase in consumer spending continues to benefit retailers.

Latest CSO figures show sales volumes fell by 3.4% in January, when compared to the preceding month, but increased by 3.7% on a year-on-year basis. In value terms, sales fell 1.4% month-on-month, but rose by 3.5% year-on-year.

The monthly drop was largely explained by the inclusion of the annual 'Black Friday' sales period during December.

In the three months to the end of January, the value of sales rose by over 3% year-on-year, with sales volumes up by over 4%.

However, while household improvement spending continued - with sales of furniture, electrical goods and hardware all doing well in the last three months - pubs and department stores continued to suffer.

In the three months to the end of January, pub sales fell by just under 1% in year-on-year value terms; and by 2.5% in volume terms. Department store sales values were down 4.5% year-on-year, while volumes fell 2.2%.

Earlier this month, the Marketing Institute forecast that further increases in employment and wages should boost consumer spending to €111bn this year, up from €108bn last year.