Retailers get relief as sales figures show more winners than losers

Motor trades, department stores and food and beverage outlets were among the five retail sectors to post annual declines in volume sales in March

Food and beverage shop sales were down by just over 5% and car sales fell by 2.2%. Pic; Larry Cummins

Retailers may have received some relief last month amid falling inflation as the number of business types that reported sales growth outnumbered the ones that reported declines.

Central Statistics Office figures for March showed there were five losers and eight winners across the 13 types of retail business that the CSO regularly tracks, in terms of the volume of retail sales. This is a reversal of the results recorded in the previous month.