The volume of retail sales increased by 6.0% in April 2010 compared to April 2009 and there was a monthly increase of 1.8%. If Motor Trades are excluded the volume of retail sales increased by 0.3% in April 2010 compared to April 2009 and the monthly change was -0.2%. This is the first year-on-year increase in the volume of retail sales (excluding motor trades) since March 2008.

The iSite team created the following graph showing how the EU countries compare with Ireland (data source eurostat)

From this report you can see that the Baltic states were badly affected in Nov-Jan period. Ireland is mid table in terms of impact, but is showing good signs of recovery.

If we focus on Ireland we can see that the March and April figures show positive signs of recovery.

Click to find the full report here