Retail sales volumes rose at the fastest pace in over a year last month, jumping by 8.6% on the back of a surge in car sales, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
The CSO said that when a 30.7% year-on-year increase in motor trades was excluded, retail sales rose by 0.3% month-on-month compared with a headline monthly increase of 2% while they were just 0.6% higher than March last year.
Today's CSO figures show that the value of retail sales were 1.8% higher in March than in February and 14.9% higher on an annual basis.
The CSO said the largest monthly volume increases in April were recorded in Other Retail Sales, which jumped by 34.8% and Department Stores, with sales there up 5%.
Other Retail Sales includes such items as carpets, music and video recordings, games and toys, flowers, plants, seeds, fertilisers, pet food as well as jewellery.
Meanwhile, the highest monthly volume decreases were seen in Bars, with sales there down 15.9%, while Clothing, Footwear & Textiles sales slowed down by 7.3% and Hardware, Paints & Glass sales fell by 7.1%.
On an annual basis, the largest annual volume growth was in Motor Trades, with such sales speeding up by 30.7%, while Other Retail Sales rose by 22.3%, Bars sales were up 9.6% and Fuel rose by 6.3%.
The sectors which showed the largest annual volume declines in March 2023 included Hardware, Paints & Glass, which slowed by 11.6%, while Pharmaceuticals, Medical & Cosmetic Articles fell by 4.2%.
Sales of Books, Newspapers & Stationery were down 4.1% and Food, Beverages & Tobacco in specialised stores were also 4.1% lower on the same month last year.
Today's CSO figures also show that the proportion of retail sales transacted online from Irish registered companies stood at 5.6% in March 2023.
This compared with 5.2% in February 2023, 5% in March 2022 and 11.1% in March 2021.
