The latest CSO retail sales figures indicate that there has been a slight fall in the volume of retail sales (i.e. excluding price effects) of -0.8% in October 2015, compared to the previous month.
However, the figures also indicate that volume sales for the month are up 6.9% on the same month last year.
In terms of the value of retail sales, there was a decrease of 1.0% in October 2015 when compared with September 2015, and an annual increase of 3.5% when compared with October 2014.
When it comes to the Food, Beverages and Tobacco sector, the value of sales increased 0.7% in October 2015 when compared with September 2015, but there was an annual decrease of -1.5% when compared with October of last year. The volume of sales follows a similar pattern with a 0.6% increase versus last month offset by a -0.3% decrease year-on-year.
The sectors with the largest month on month volume increases were Furniture and Lighting (+3.8%), Bars (+2.1%) and Department Stores (+1.4%). The sectors with the largest monthly decreases were Electrical Goods (-2.9%), Fuel (-2.1%) and Hardware, Paints & Glass (-1.3%).
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
