Notice lots of sales in shops at the moment what is behind it

Very difficult trading environment in retail specifically, factor in overheads such as rates and insurance, online competition and employee wages and margins are thin at the best of times.

Regular sales signs have been appearing for some time, there is a jeweller near me who almost always always has the sale signs out.
 
The traditional January Sales?! Isn't that still a thing?
Not the traditional January Sales,
All types of clothing foot ware household,
Flash sales knock down prices like I never seen Before, not normal,
 
Very difficult trading environment in retail specifically,

No it's not. Volume of retail sales up 2% in 2019 compared to 2018, and up 19% since 2015.

RSI2019M12FIG1.png
 
I used to work in costings
Volume has nothing to do with profit,
As they say you can be a busy fool,
 
Absolutely nothing at all......

CSO [broken link removed]gross value added in the retail sector, very approximately wages plus profits.

Grew from €7,780m in 2015 to €8,777m in 2018, or 12%.

just wondering what is driving all those extra sale at knock down prices,
Not normal,
 
Last edited:
Interesting Thread and I reckon we'll see a lot more sales when there would normally be no sales. I visited an Eir shop yesterday and silently took my place in the queue. There was an Asian guy at the counter and he literally went through each line of the contrant and sales sheet. He challenged everything including the price and kept saying "What's your best deal?"The salesperson adived he could get another €10.00 of the monthly price. The customer never looked up and kept staring at his mobile phone. Still he wasn't happy and to be honest he was riding the situation. Some in the queue (including moi) were getting impatient. Eventually, a lady who was a citizen of the Peoples Republic of Cork spoke loudly 2what's the reason for the holdup, there are cash customers here." Eventually, the Asian guy was not content and he left without purchase. Whether there was an Eir Sale or not the salesperson had permission to drop €10.00 of the monthly bill of a who was guy breaking his heart.

Harvey-Norman have a sale nearly every day of the year. There are the flash sales, the weekend sales, the midweek sales, the bank holiday weekend sales.

Then the Homeware shops have "When they're gone, they're gone" sales almost every week.

Even my local chipper has a sale every Friday (formerly called Fiver Friday from Joe Duffy's Fiver Sale Show). The Fiver Friday now costs €6.00.

Competition has never been keener in the retail industry. Most of this is probably caused by sales through the internet. Let's face it, internet sales are not going to get any less. The shops in our towns and villages are going to change and more will close down. When I last worked two years ago there was a young lady in the section who kept screaming to protect rural Ireland. She lived literally in a west Cork wilderness which had a shop, a pub or two and a hairdressing facility. But, she did her shopping in Aldi and Lidl and sometimes Dunnes Stores.
 
No it's not. Volume of retail sales up 2% in 2019 compared to 2018, and up 19% since 2015.

RSI2019M12FIG1.png

What about what we can all see on the ground with these continuing sales.

These stats do not reflect small town retail reality.

In the town I live in and towns within a 30 mile radius retail units are closing and are not being replaced, well maybe with charity shops that pay half rates, the trend being to move the town centers retail units to larger out of town centers, these larger businesses are also retail and included in these stats which skew the true position.

Retail as I refer to it is your shop in any town Main Street Ireland and it is very difficult, regardless of your assertion based on the stats you published.

Hence the delight with the retailers with Joe Duffy and his fiver Friday.

The big retailers may well have it good, the SME’s don’t.
 
I have just returned from Douglas Court Shopping Centre in Cork. I took notice of the shops newly occupied in the past 12 months and those that have closed (some of them relatively big names). I noticed also a big 'un there put up for sale just this week.

If continuous sales keep shops open, I have no difficulty.
 
Back
Top