Hard sell: Retailers braced for fresh set of challenges

On top of ever-present online competition, high street stores just recovering from lockdown now have to contend with inflation, labour shortages and supply-chain issues. Still, experts don’t expect a tide of insolvencies just yet

Keith Rogers of Ecco: ‘We will have to wait and see what happens before we set prices for spring 2023.’ Picture: John Allen

Mary Green, the owner of Divine Boutique in Maynooth, Co Kildare, is starting to notice small increases in her business costs “across the board”, from shipping to electricity and heating.

Greene, who employs ten full and part-time staff in her ladies’ clothing shop, “thankfully” hasn’t had to pass the costs onto her customers yet. “However, it is going to come to a stage, probably towards the end of the summer, where we will definitely have to pass some of the extra costs onto the consumer,” she told the Business Post.