Online retail sales fell to 5.8% as Irish people reduced online shopping after the lockdown

It is reported that on March 21 local time , a report released by the Central Statistics Office ( CSO ) of Ireland showed that Ireland's online retail sales fell sharply . This change occurred after Ireland lifted the epidemic lockdown restrictions on local businesses .

It is reported that in January 2022, only 5.8% of Ireland's retail sales were obtained through online transactions , while in December 2021 this proportion was 9.7% , and the downward trend was very obvious.

Following the country’s first lockdown on March 27, 2020, online retail sales accounted for 4.5% of all retail sales in Ireland, up slightly from 4.1% in December 2019 before the pandemic , but the proportion hit an all-time high of 15.3% in April 2020.

After March 2020, Ireland implemented two more national lockdowns in October and December of the same year. The CSO said that in the subsequent lockdowns , the share of online sales also showed a similar trend, with no significant growth.

Following the October 2020 lockdown, Ireland’s online share of spending jumped from 6% in October to 12.4% in November. Following the December lockdown, the share jumped from 5.8% in December to 11% in January 2021.

Due to the continued development of the epidemic and Ireland's lockdown measures, between 2020 and 2021, many physical stores in Ireland were forced to embark on a transformation journey, changing their original sales methods from offline entities to online sales, and using contactless logistics distribution to effectively trade products to maintain store operations and development.

It is reported that in 2021, Amazon also plans to establish its first distribution center in Ireland, which will open in the first quarter of 2022 to provide customers with faster product delivery services and improve the quality of same-day delivery services.

As early as July 2021, American clothing retailer GAP announced the closure of all its physical stores in Ireland and switched to a pure online sales model. GAP said that this decision is not limited to Ireland. In order to adapt to the changes in people's shopping habits after the development of the global epidemic, physical stores around the world will change their sales methods and transform to e-commerce development.

Starting from the end of February this year , the Irish government lifted the blockade of local businesses and the requirement for people to wear masks in indoor retail venues.

According to local observers, the move will help physical stores attract more customers and could lead to a further decline in online retail sales.

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