Black Friday 'playing havoc' with sales figures

December retail sales data back up retailers' reports of disappointing Christmas trading

Black Friday 'sucking up' traditional Christmas demand. Pic: RollingNews.ie

Official figures for December appear to back upreports from retailers that they had a disappointing Christmas season, with Black Friday’s increasing popularity appearing to affect the numbers.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the volume of retail sales dropped by 0.1 per cent in December. But economists often prefer to focus on ‘core’ sales, which exclude the motor sector. These dropped by an even bigger 1 per cent in December.

Thebroader picture remained healthy in 2017, however, with the volume of sales in December still 7.2 per cent ahead of the same month last year. The annual increase in ‘core’ sales was 7.6 per cent.