Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) has revealed a like-for-like increase of only 0.08% in the grocery sector for the second quarter of 2015, despite a retail industry average of 4.97%.
The REI Irish Retail Industry Sales Review Q2 2015 shows robust growth in home dependent sectors, such as Furniture and Flooring (11.74%), as well as in Menswear (13.79%).
Small Home Appliances saw particularly strong growth with a like-for-like sales increase of 16.60%.
However, REI Chief Executive David Fitzsimmons explains, “A concern is the fact that the engine of the Retail Industry, Grocery, continues to lag the rest of the industry due to intense competition and zero inflation.”
Interestingly, while grocery retails may not be seeing significant growth in their sales due to the discount-heavy market, REI believes slow growth in Childrenswear (1.45%) has a lot to do with supermarkets’ ongoing encroachment into the Childrenswear market.
The Grocery industry saw its biggest increase in sales for Q2 in 2015 April when they rose by 0.66%, only to see sales decrease in May and June by -0.56% and -0.14% respectively.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Jenny Whelan.
