Retail sales figures in Dublin City Centre edge ahead of national average
- Fri 27 April, 2012
CAPITAL SPENDING AGAIN – RETAIL SALES FIGURES IN DUBLIN CITY CENTRE EDGE AHEAD OF NATIONAL AVERAGE
– Footfall continues to increase in Dublin City Centre –
Dublin City Business Improvement District (BID) today welcomed the figures released by the Central Statistics Office, which show that the volume of retail sales for March increased by 0.2%, the second month in a row that an increase has been recorded.
Figures collated by Dublin City BID, which represents 2,500 businesses in the city centre show that businesses in Dublin City Centre outperformed the national trend with trading in the BID area marginally up in March this year, in comparison with March 2011. Nationally, the volume of sales fell by 1%, when compared with March 2011, according to the CSO.
Commenting on the figures, Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin City BID said: ‘The sales figures we have collated from businesses in Dublin City Centre, show that trading in the BID area was marginally up in March this year, in comparison with March 2011. Encouragingly, the city has also maintained the increase in footfall which has been experienced since December 2011.
The declines in sales experienced from 2007 are now at an end. Dublin City BID organised for the Lord Mayor to meet a cross section of businesses in September 2011 and again in April 2012. There was a marked improvement in business sentiment during the most recent meetings in April. The general view conveyed to the Lord Mayor by these businesses is that the City Centre is certainly heading in the right direction.
While growth is uneven across the city and there are certain areas that have the potential to do better, there are however encouraging signs. The welcome trend of increased footfall and occupancy has been maintained. Branding the City Centre as a shopping and leisure destination in its own right is clearly paying dividends. Collaborative marketing initiatives such as the launch of Dublintown.ie, a hub designed to highlight all that ‘Town’ has to offer and the Dublin City Marketing Forum are helping businesses to work together to greater effect and showcase what the City Centre has to offer.
According to research conducted by Dublin City Council earlier, this year 81% percent of respondents felt that the city centre is full of vibrancy. When asked their favourite thing to do in the city centre, respondents indicated that eating out and shopping (15% and 14%, respectively) were the favored activities. There is more potential there on the part of the city to devise new and creative collaborative marketing initiatives to exploit this sentiment more fully.’