Small retailers will be under particular pressure if this Christmas season is not a success commercially, the representative group Retail Excellence has warned.
This is the first Christmas shopping season in three years without some form of public health restrictions being in place.
Footfall is said to have improved vastly on recent years, but there are challenges for retailers this year, particularly around rising costs and consumers who are themselves increasingly budget conscious.
"There's definitely an issue around consumers shopping for value," Duncan Graham, Managing Director of Retail Excellence told Morning Ireland.
"People are shopping with a budget in mind. It's not a massive Christmas, but it's definitely better than the last two."
Mr Graham called on the Government to extend the recently introduced Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) beyond February as many retailers were struggling with meeting their energy bills.
He said they were adding to cost pressures that were mounting on all sides.
"For small retailers in particular, if we're looking at a flat Christmas with a 9% inflation rate, margins are being hit very hard. Most retailers will survive Christmas, but it's January or February when the real pressure comes," he concluded.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
