Retail Investment Report: Evaluating Retail Locations in Ireland

This report, prepared for a large international retail company, evaluates the suitability of Drogheda and Navan, Ireland, as locations for a new retail outlet. The analysis, based on the company's problem statement, considers population trends, income levels, and expenditure patterns to forecast future retail sales. The report utilizes data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of Ireland, including population projections, income distribution, and household expenditure, to compare the two locations. The report highlights that Navan shows a higher population growth rate and disposable income growth rate compared to Drogheda, leading to the conclusion that Navan would be a more profitable location for the retail outlet in the long term. The report also includes a discussion on the fluctuating trends in the Irish retail sector and forecasts a rise in retail sales in the future based on rising population and disposable income.

Running head: RETAIL INVESTMENT REPORT
Retail Investment Report
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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1RETAIL INVESTMENT REPORT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Population analysis..........................................................................................................................2
Income analysis...............................................................................................................................4
Expenditure analysis........................................................................................................................5
Retail sector analysis and forecast...................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
A large international retail company is eager to open large outlet in Ireland. In order to do
that a detailed study of the suitable locations is necessary. Drogheda in County Louth and Navan
in County Meath has been identified for the analysis. The analysis would be done of the basis if
population, income and expenditure factors. Comparing the analysis of the two, the report tries to
find the most suitable location for retail outlet establishment.
Population analysis
Figure 1: Population data of Ireland
Source: (Cso.ie. 2020)
It is evident from the census of 2016 the population of Ireland has increased. The growth
of population percentage of Meath was 5.9% and that of Louth was 2.8%. Therefore, it can be
said that the Meath has greater population growth in comparison to the entire country. Hence, it
can be assumed that population growth will be higher in Navan than in Drogheda. Meath is also
among the counties with youngest population in Ireland whereas Louth is not.

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Figure 2: Change in
population structure
Source: (Cso.ie. 2020)
From figure 2, it can be observed that in Ireland the average age of population is
increasing. The figure shows that in 2016 the number of people between the age group 20 to 39
years had declined whereas people above age 40 years had increased. The change in population
impacts the consumption habits significantly. With rise in age, the amount of food consumption
decreases. Along with that, the amount of purchase of clothing decreases too. It has been found
that purchase of highest percentage of clothing all around the world is done by youth. In the case
of Ireland, the percentage of youth population is decreasing with every passing year (Ma and

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Nolan 2017). It is mainly occurring due to the rise in life expectancy of people in the country and
low child birth rate. It is evident from the figure above that there is rise in number of persons
aging above 85 and there is fall in number of persons aging between 0 and 4 years. Therefore, it
can be said that in future there will be older people in Ireland than young people. Hence, fall in
consumption of food and clothing is justified.
Income analysis
Figure 3: Percentage Change in disposable income per person
Source: (Created by the Author)
Figure 3 shows that the disposable income in both the counties has increased more in
comparison to Ireland. The historical data show that since end of 2013 the percentage rise in
disposable income in Meath has been greater than both Louth and Ireland. Hence, it can be said
that Navan is richer than Drogheda. Therefore, if the current trend of rise in percentage of
disposable income continues then it can be said that people living in Navan will have more
amount of disposable income.
2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
-15.00%
-10.00%
-5.00%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
% change in disposable income in Meath
% change in disposable income in Louth
% change in disposable income in Ireland

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Expenditure analysis
The expenditure of people of Ireland has decreased in most of the goods except the
housing and miscellaneous goods and services. Therefore, it can be said that the people has
lowered their expenditure in retail sector goods. However, there is still hope that the expenditure
will rise. Considering, the rise in income of people and fall in expenditure in most of the goods it
can be said the country is facing a fall in consumption demand. Therefore, it is can be said that
the retail sector in the country is suffering a bit.
Figure 4: Change if distribution in household expenditure
Source: (Cso.ie. 2017)
Retail sector analysis and forecast
The retail sector in Ireland is very much fluctuating. However, there is an upward trend in
in the sales of retail products in the country. It has been noticed that there was a 3.4% fall in
retail sales in the month of January in 2020. Alternatively, it can be said that there may be fall in
retail sales in the recent times but with rising population, there will be more number of potential

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buyers in the country (Campbell 2017). It should be further considered that the number of
workers in labour force is increasing over time. As per Labour Force Survey (LFS) it has been
found that there is an increase of 79, 900 workers in the labour force and thus there is high
probability rise in disposable income further and that will certainly boost the sales of retail
sector.
Moreover, from the above analysis of the factors it can be said that there will be rise in
retail sales in future in Ireland. The percentage of population increase will continue to increase
over the next 20 years and the government would not restrict it as the population of the country is
not so high. On the other, hand the rise in disposable income is steady too (Stuart 2017). Hence,
considering the population growth rate and disposable income growth rate it can be inferred that
the company would earn more revenue if it establishes outlet in Navan.
Conclusion
The above analysis of Drogheda and Navan in comparison Ireland leads to the inference
that in Navan both population growth rate and disposable growth rate is higher than both the
counterparts. Hence, the retail industry in future will grow better in Navan and any company that
establishes outlet there would earn revenue at growing rate every year.

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Reference
Campbell, C., 2017. Northern Ireland Retail Landscape. Kantar Worldpanel, 27th June.
Cso.ie. (2017). Household Expenditure - CSO - Central Statistics Office. [online] Available at:
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-hbs/hbs20152016/hexp/.
Cso.ie. (2020). [online] Available at:
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2017/
Chapter_1_Population_change_and_historical_perspective.pdf.
Cso.ie. (2020). [online] Available at:
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2017/
Chapter_3_Age_and_sex_composition.pdf.
Ma, Y. and Nolan, A., 2017. Public healthcare entitlements and healthcare utilisation among the
older population in Ireland. Health economics, 26(11), pp.1412-1428.
Stuart, R., 2017. 70 YEARS OF PERSONAL DISPOSABLE INCOME AND CONSUMPTION
IN IRELAND. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland.