RETAIL SALES rose by all main measures in March when compared to February, according to figures published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.

Although by most measures the increase was marginal, it provides further evidence that consumers have remained resilient in 2011 in the face of numerous demand-damping pressures, including higher taxes and unemployment.

The value of core retail sales, which excludes volatile car sales, rose by 0.7 per cent month on month.

When price changes are excluded, the volume of sales rose by a much smaller 0.1 per cent.

The figures for the first quarter of the year show that the downward drift in the retail sector – in evidence from April to December of last year – has stopped.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the volume of core sales rose by 0.4 per cent in the first three months of 2011. By value they rose by 1.5 per cent.

This comparison, however, is likely to overstate the underlying improvement because the exceptional weather in December depressed sales in the final quarter of 2010.

Of the 13 retail sub-sectors for which detailed figures are available, eight recorded higher month on month sales, while five experienced declines.

By volume, the largest increase was recorded in the hardware sector.

A month-on-month increase of just under 5 per cent was recorded in March.

The furniture and lighting subsector also recorded growth over the same period, albeit of a more modest rate of 0.6 per cent.

Both sectors have seen sales decline by between one-third and one-half since the peak of the property boom in early 2007. Yesterday’s figures suggest that a trend towards stabilisation is emerging.

The motor trade also enjoyed growth in March, seeing the volume of sales rise by 1.1 on February.

The motor business bucked the wider retail trend last year, as auto sales trended up over the course of the year.

Although still far below their 2007 peak, auto sales in March were 42 per cent up on their recessionary trough-point reached in April 2009.

The Government-backed scrappage scheme is likely to have been an important factor in the increase in car sales.

Of the five sub-sectors recording monthly declines, sales of fuels fell most sharply, contracting by 2.2 per cent.

This is the continuation of a strong and steady trend in evidence since early 2008.

From a peak early in that year, monthly sales of fuels had fallen almost one third by March this year.