IRISH RETAILERS are facing difficult trading conditions as weak consumer demand and the impact of cross-Border shopping hits business prospects, a new survey has found.

The study carried out by Retail Ireland, the Ibec group representing the retail sector in Ireland, found 62 per cent of businesses are expecting sales to decrease in the period to the end of November, while only 19 per cent are anticipating a rise in sales.

The survey, which questioned 99 retailers about the period September to November 2009, found two-thirds of respondents rated their business currently as poor or very poor, with 69 per cent viewing their prospects to the end of November this year in a similar manner.

This outlook is in line with business sentiment in the second quarter.

Retail Ireland director Torlach Denihan said the poor trading conditions were due to weak consumer demand, cross-Border shopping and an uncompetitive cost base, and called for a cut in VAT, excise duty on alcohol and State-controlled costs such waste disposal charges, electricity prices and compliance costs.

“Despite deep price cuts by retailers, the sales outlook is still poor. Decisive action is needed to help sustain the 250,000 jobs in the retail sector. Elected members of local authorities must vote to cut commercial rates by 20 per cent when striking the annual rate on valuation in the coming weeks,” he said.

The survey also found that fewer respondents were expecting to boost customer numbers than in previous quarters, at only 39 per cent, while 42 per cent were expecting static customer numbers, a higher number than in previous quarters.

More than half of retailers said prices would fall, with 19 per cent claiming to be unsure about future price movements.

Prospects for employees in the sector have also fallen, with 54 per cent saying staff numbers would decrease and only 4 per cent predicting an increase. Almost a third said they were expecting to bring in compulsory redundancies by the end of November.