According to the Cork Business Association (CBA) pre-Christmas trading is more moderate than Christmas 2006 with many retailers expecting to see their trading figures for December remain static or only increase slightly.

Mr O’ Sullivan added that the current economic uncertainty nationally was also impacting on the December trading season. “With interest rates and the stock market causing concerns there are a number of economic barometers which are destabilising the market, “ he said.

Continuing he added, “this year we saw stores with sales up to two weeks before Christmas and this is a phenomenon we wouldn’t have seen before but, there are still four full shopping days left before Christmas and retailers would be hopeful of showing a modest growth for this year.”

Concluding Mr O’ Sullivan said that retailers would now be battening down the hatches for 2008 and hopeful that the market would stabilise in the new year.

Meanwhile, the Cork Marketing Partnership said that their campaign to attract people to Cork, ‘Cork Christmas Fest’ had proven a great success and that there had been increased visitor numbers to Cork with the level of retail activity this year is set to match and possibly exceed last years bumper trading returns.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment