Jingle bells at the tills

RETAILERS across the county can expect a boost in the coming days as post-Christmas bargain hunters hit the shops.

Retail Excellence Ireland, the largest retail industry trade body, reported an increase in the number of consumers for the sales, which began in many places on St Stephen’s Day. This is likely to filter out to towns in Clare this weekend and next week, according to REI.

Figures from the organisation show Christmas 2012 saw an increase in the number of consumers out shopping and early figures indicate sales are up overall when compared to Christmas 2011.

Clare-based CEO of REI, David Fitzsimons said, “Turnout of shoppers for the Christmas season is well ahead of expectations with retailers offering the very best value and service to consumers. It is also welcome to see a return of consumer confidence, based on the increase in consumers, and we can only hope that this will remain throughout 2013.”

 

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Mr Fitzsimons said that while post-Christmas shopping has been strong primarily in big towns and cities, the pre-Christmas rise was felt across most towns.

“The pre-Christmas lift was felt everywhere and we spoke to Ennis retailers, as well as others around the country, who said that was their experience. The post-Christmas sales lift would be mainly in the big urban centres because not many retailers in Ennis or in Clare would have opened on St Stephen’s Day.

“A lot of customers are very savvy and postponed some of their spending for the post-Christmas sales. This is seen mainly in two categories, big ticket items like televisions, sofas, white goods and that kind of stuff and secondly in fashion. There is a noticeable trend that women are postponing purchasing until after Christmas because the value is much better and there is also a lack of occasions when compared with other years. There are not as many pre-Christmas occasions as there once were,” Mr Fitzsimons surmised.

CEO of Ennis Chamber Rita McInerney agreed that while it was difficult to predict how the post-Christmas sales would go in the county town, pre-Christmas shopping had proved strong.

“Very few places were open on St Stephen’s Day in Ennis but the pre-Christmas period was quite busy. I think the retailers were happy enough with the week leading up to Christmas and particularly the last weekend before Christmas. For Ennis the street radio and the atmosphere helped and added to the ambiance. People were in high spirits and retailers here felt it was good. From the business people I spoke to before Christmas they were happy, they held their own,” she said.

Ms McInerney added that she too felt that consumer confidence was returning to the retail market.

“There is a change in people’s attitude. People are still grappling with the Budget and its implications and I think it would help a lot next year if the Budget was announced in October because it would allow people time to come to terms with it. I think that kind of change would be very positive. But there is a level of confidence coming back. People are assessing what they have and what they can spend and are very conscious of shopping local and supporting local business as it creates jobs for their families, friends and neighbours. That was very obvious in the run up to Christmas. It is becoming the done thing again.

“Yes, people are shopping around and looking at items online and in other areas but people are smart and they are taking into account the cost of postage or travel and the value of shopping local to their community and sustaining the place where they live, so if there is no difference or only a small difference in price, they are often more inclined to spend their money in the local economy,” Ms McInerney stated.

According to REI, the week ahead will be one of the most important of the year for Clare retailers.

“This week and this weekend will be busy in Clare and in Ennis particularly. This is a crucial week for retailers, almost as important as the pre-Christmas period. It is the retailer’s job to turn stock into cash and that will have to be done in the next week, particularly with seasonal items,” Mr Fitzsimons said.

The REI CEO encouraged people to try to spend locally as much as possible in the coming days.

“Your money goes further when you spend locally and when you buy Irish. There are lots of tertiary benefits to buying Irish rather than spending your money with non-indigenous retailers. That said there is a misconception out there that many of the international brands are internationally owned but in many cases they are not. There are companies many people would perceive as UK-owned that are in fact Irish-owned and licensed so the money stays in the country,” Mr Fitzsimons concluded.