Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) has published its final pre-Christmas trading update, and it reports that sales are up marginally on last year's holiday period - but they are still lower than expected.

REI's CEO Sean Murphy commented: "It would seem that while all the indicators pointed to a vibrant Christmas 2014, the fact is that seven years of frugality is a hard habit to break. The expectation was that the few days before Christmas would be buoyant, unfortunately trading failed to ignite across Ireland."

The group says that consumers can expect "major discounting" in post-Christmas sales.

Key trends in Christmas shopping this year:

• Frozen - Elsa, Olaf and Co have dominated the Christmas toy market. REI report that there is now a lucrative counterfeit market for the Disney toys. Revenue seized €600,000 worth of fake toys at Dublin Port last week.
• Self-gifting - Retailers say more shoppers are buying presents for themselves this Christmas.
• Giving experiences - Shoppers are gravitating towards buying experiences, rather than products. Expect a lot of photos of One Direction, Taylor Swift, AC/DC and festival early-bird tickets to be showing up in your social-feeds tomorrow.
• Home for Christmas - Provincial activity has picked up across the country as people return home for their Christmas holidays - although this upswing has also been lower than expected.
• Margin collapse - Retailers splashed out on extra advertising. The lower than expected sales and increase in advertising spending is expected to put serious pressure on retailer's margins.
• Christmas Day sales - Online retails will kick-off their sales tomorrow, and are expecting a busy day.
• Home - There are more people buying decorations and homeware - hoping to have their homes perfect for the big day.
• Tech - REI reports that tech demand has remained strong.
• Crime - There has been a notable increase in the number of violent robberies in stores across the country. In January the REI will establish a loss prevention group to explore the issue.