Stores look to sales after dip in Christmas spending

Retailers are hoping that the winter sales, now under way throughout the country, will help to make up for the generally disappointing turnover in the run-up to Christmas.

Consumer spending for the Christmas season was down almost 20 per cent on last year, according to the Consumers Association of Ireland.

However, many retailers have dropped prices significantly in this year's sales, and they say they are confident of a strong recovery during the coming weeks.

The chief executive of the Consumers Association, Mr Dermot Jewell, said shoppers held back on pre-Christmas spending this year, in order to get the best bargains in the sales.

"I'm not surprised that people held back on spending this year, and we've seen that spending is down in the region of 20 per cent on the previous year. There was a significant need for people to wait for the sales, simply to afford the things they need."

Many shops began their winter sales in mid-December, Mr Jewell said, in an attempt to get shoppers spending earlier.

"It was definitely noticeable that there were reductions of 30 per cent to 50 per cent in a lot of places running up to Christmas, but in reality the money just wasn't there."

Consumers were conscious, he said, of the increased charges they were facing in the new year, including a rise in bus and rail tickets from January 1st and the increased electricity rates due later.

"It has already been a very difficult year for many people and the statistics have shown that spending slowed down throughout the year."

Shoppers will be keeping an eye out for bargains on necessities rather than impulse buying luxury items, Mr Jewell said.

The first days of the sales have attracted high numbers of shoppers.

Customers queued from the early hours of Saturday morning outside Arnotts department store in Dublin's Henry Street, even though the sale did not start until 1 p.m. "We've had tens of thousands of people through the doors already. It's been the biggest crowd in Henry Street we've had for any sale in any year," Mr Eddie Shanahan of Arnotts said.

He said there was a particularly brisk trade in furnishings, kitchenware and linens.

A number of shops which began discounting before Christmas are further reducing prices for the new year, Dublin Chamber of Commerce said.

The household sector has been selling particularly well in the last few days, chamber policy director Mr Declan Martin said.

"Conversely, high end items such as ladies fashion have not been performing as well as previous years, and there is much discounting in this area at present."

Brown Thomas said its four stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway were showing strong takings, with the Dublin sale in particular outperforming previous years.

An indication of the strength of this year's sales would not be available until January 5th or 6th, Mr Tom Coffey, chief executive of the Dublin City Business Association, said.