Retail sales down 5.6% in August

/ 28th September 2022 /

The volume of retail sales fell 5.6% year-on-year in August as all but three sectors monitored by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) experiencing declines in annual sales volume last month as consumers tightened their belts in the face of runaway inflation.

Only bars (+17.7%), pharmaceuticals, medical & cosmetic articles (+4.2%) and clothing, footwear & textiles (+2%) bucked the wider trend, with pubs having still operated under some public health restrictions a year ago.

The sectors that experienced the largest annual reductions in sales volume were 'other retail sales' (-15.9%), motor trades (-12.2%), food, beverage & tobacco (-7%), and furniture & lighting (-6.3%).

On both a monthly basis and compared to February 2020, the last month before any Covid restrictions were enacted, retail sales volumes increases 2% and 3.2%, respectively.

The largest monthly volume increases were in books, newspapers & stationery (+28.0%), bars (+7.5%), fuel (+7.2%), department stores (+6.9%) and other retail sales (+6.3%), while only furniture & lighting (-1.6%) and non-specialised stores, including supermarkets, (-0.8%) saw declines.

The value of retail sales of fuel rose 20.5% year-on-year last month while volume fell 3.5% over the same period, reflecting much higher prices compared with last year, owing to volatility in the price of oil since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The volume of retail sales excluding motor trades rose by 2.3% in the month and dropped by 2.6% in the year when compared with August 2021, and the proportion of retail sales transacted online from Irish registered companies was 4.9%, up from 4.8% a year earlier.

The largest increases in the volume of retail sales in August 2022 since pre-Covid-19 were in clothing, footwear & textiles (+23.7%), pharmaceuticals, medical & cosmetic articles (+23.0%), hardware, paints & glass (+16.3%), and electrical goods (+11.6%).

The largest volume decreases during the same period occurred in books, newspapers and stationery (-19.4%) and bars (-15.3%).

(Pic: Getty Images)