The Central Statistics Office data indicates a month-on-month drop in retail sales by 2% in May, as opposed to April. However, there was a year-on-year increase of 1.5% in comparison to last year’s statistics. Moreover, there was a slight decline in the quantity of retail sales by 0.6% in May versus April, after adjustment for seasonal variations. In comparison to a year earlier, the sales volume was found to be 1% less on an annual basis.
With motor trades being excluded, retail sales volume fell by 0.3% over the month and 0.5% over the year. There was a noticeable decrease in monthly volume of various sectors including apparel, footwear, textiles (6.4%), motor trades (4.5%), other retail sales (3.8%), hardware, paint, glass (2.4%), furniture, lighting (2.1%) and electronics (1.7%).
In contrast, bars witnessed the steepest rise (13.8%) in monthly volume sales, along with books, newspapers, stationery (7%), pharmaceuticals including medical and cosmetic items (3%) and department stores (2.9%).
Furthermore, online retail sales comprised 4.9% of the total for May, slightly down from 5.6% in April, although still higher than 5.2% in May 2023. However, with motor trades removed, these figures increased to 6.4% and 7.2% for May and April respectively, compared to May 2023’s 6.7%.