Temporary easing of restrictions helped boost December retail sales

The volume of retail sales had fallen on a monthly basis for the first time in six months in November, as the tightening of Covid-19 restrictions across the country forced many retailers to shut their doors.

The temporary lifting of the Level 5 lockdown in December helped boost retail sales ahead of the vital Christmas season.

The volume of retail sales increased by 14.3% in December compared to the previous month, and were 8.2% higher than December 2019, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

The volume of retail sales had fallen on a monthly basis for the first time in six months in November, as the tightening of Covid-19 restrictions across the country forced many retailers to shut their doors.

The volume of sales in clothing, footwear and textiles soared by 160.9% in December, when compared to November 2020, while furniture & lighting (+63.5%) and department stores (+42.6%) also saw a boost.

The volume of sales for bars increased almost four-fold in December compared to November, however, the CSO noted it represented just over one-third of the volume of sales in December 2019.

The monthly volume of sales fell in electrical goods (-17.1%) and pharmaceuticals, medical and cosmetics (-1.8%) last month, but were up 5.5% and 11% on an annual basis, respectively. 

The re-opening of large sectors of the economy appears to have shifted the proportion of retail sales transacted online (from Irish registered companies), falling from 12.4% in November to 5.6% in December.

The CSO figures do not reflect online transactions with non-Irish-registered companies.

Commenting on today's figures, Dr Loretta O’Sullivan, Group Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland said spending in some areas remains below its pre-pandemic level, in part, because households’ preferences have shifted over the past few months. 

"As consumption has moved out-of-home to in-home, there have been substitution effects, for example, grocery shopping and food deliveries in place of eating and drinking out, home improvements instead of overseas holidays."

"While some of these changes will likely prove transitory, others may persist with longer lasting implications for the economy.”