Western Europe

Inflationary pressures, notably in food, drove value growth in convenience retailers in 2023. Here we note the cost of everyday essentials, such as butter, milk, flour, and eggs. While this supports value sales due to the higher prices, retailers in…

Direct selling remained in a relatively steep slump in Ireland in 2023, due to strong competition from a variety of other shopping channels which offer wider ranges of goods at lower prices – both online and offline. Added to which, inflationary…

Discounters maintained growth in Ireland in 2023, thanks to offering affordable goods to price-sensitive consumers. Indeed, discounters continue to expand their ranges of products, thus, to appeal to a wider range of consumers who are seeking…

The performance of general merchandise stores in Ireland in 2023 was being supported by the positive trajectory of department stores. There was a strong rebound in department stores in 2022, following the disruptions seen during the era of the…

Sales in health and beauty specialists slumped into a negative performance in Ireland in 2023, following a positive pattern in 2022. We note that the 2022 growth was primarily driven by the growing health and wellbeing and preventative health trends,…

Home products specialists saw stagnant growth in Ireland in 2023. This is attributed to the boom in home improvements over the pandemic lockdowns, which has since eased off. Added to which, inflationary pressures and the cost-of-living crisis are…

Hypermarkets struggled in Ireland in 2023, due to a variety of factors. One such is the fact such stores, being large in size, were strongly affected by the hikes in energy bills and associated utilities. This made it challenging for hypermarket…

Building on the positive momentum from the previous year, jewellery in Switzerland witnessed dynamic growth in 2023, led by the growing demand for costume jewellery. This trend, reminiscent of 2022, underscored shifting consumer preferences towards…

Menstrual care in Austria saw only modest growth in current value terms in 2023. Moreover, this increase was entirely attributable to inflationary pressures, as rising raw material and supply chain costs led to an increase in unit prices. The cost of…

Demand for menstrual care in Switzerland continues to normalise in the post-pandemic era. Retail volume and value sales posted solid growth in 2023, with the latter fuelled in part by inflation and higher costs of raw materials and production. Since…