Retail sales jump more than 9% in August compared to 2019

Electrical goods, hardware and furniture sectors were strongest.

The motor trade recorded an almost 16% increase on August 2019.

Retail sales were 9.1% higher in August 2020 compared with August 2019 new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

Electrical goods, hardware, along with furniture and lighting sectors all saw retail volumes increase by more than 25%. The motor trade also recorded an almost 16% increase on August 2019 while supermarket volumes were up almost 10%.

The figures highlight a significant bounceback in retail following the Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions which saw sales volumes fall dramatically from February before recovering in May.

The volume of retail sales increased by 1.3% in August when compared to July on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Despite the strong year-on-year growth a number of sectors remain at a lower level that 2019 including bars (-42.9%), books, newspapers and stationery (-13.3%), fuel (-5.4%), department stores (-4.0%) and clothing, footwear & textiles (-0.9%).

As the volume of in-person shopping increased with shops reopening, the proportion of total retail sales transacted online has fallen from the high of 15.3% recorded in April to 4.4% in August.