Retailers were yesterday upbeat after festive sales were up on last Christmas — while shippers bringing in online purchases also reported gains on last year.

Paula Clarke, chief executive officer of Gibbons Company, said: “Christmas was very good. December, all in all, was very good.

“The retailers in Bermuda and especially the Gibbons Company, work very hard to keep the dollars circulating in Bermuda.

“I think it’s slightly ahead of last year.”

Ms Clarke added that Gibbons, a full-scale department store selling everything from clothing and cosmetics to housewares, had seen good sales “across the board”.

She said: “We really are a one-stop shop for our customers and they really like that. There wasn’t one area we could definitely say was down.”

Ms Clarke, also retail spokesman for the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, said the trade generally was “a little slow to start with, then it got momentum”.

She added: “I am hoping that the overall results for everybody will be positive.”

Ms Clarke said she was unable to say how much a worldwide trend of online shopping had affected bricks-and-mortar businesses in Bermuda due to a lack of statistics.

She added: “Unfortunately, we have been trying to get numbers out of the government about how much is spent on online shopping, but we haven’t had much luck getting the numbers.

“We’ve been asking for these numbers for many, many years now. It would be helpful to see the categories people are spending on overseas because then we could address that, but it’s not available to us in a timely manner.”

Ms Clarke added, however, that she estimated the threat of online shopping remained the same as in previous years.

She said: “It’s the same — shopping habits are changing and we address that as best we can. I don’t think there are any more threats I’ve been able to identify, but a lot of it gets down to customer sentiment and how they’re feeling.

“If people aren’t feeling confident, they won’t spend. I think people are fairly confident because the America’s Cup is coming up next year.

“People are optimistic about that and they can see there will be some real benefits with more people in Bermuda. Anyone in transportation or the service industries must realise this will be a huge advantage and change for Bermuda.”

Stephen Thomson, president and CEO of shipping firm Mailboxes Unlimited, said business had tripled in the run-up to Christmas compared to the rest of the year.

He added that for the last four or five years, volumes in the run-up to the festive season had gone up five per cent annually.

Mr Thomson said: “We grew this Christmas and we’re happy with that.”

Mr Thomson, who is also chairman of Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd, the parent company of The Royal Gazette, added: “Internet shopping has gone up four or five per cent, so our business has grown four or five per cent.

“That’s tracking the US trend.”

Mr Thomson said that increasing use of hi-tech meant that parcels ordered from a major online retailer like Amazon could be in customers’ hands in as little as five days.

And he added: “We have done some creative things that helped growth — like the rewards programme, which attracted some level of attention, which has also helped customer retention.

“There is a lot of competition in what we do. It’s competitive, but we feel we’ve had a good Christmas and a good year.”

Dawn Zuill, owner of Island Shippers, based in Hamilton’s Cedar Avenue, said the Christmas period was “tremendous”.

She added: “I’d say, happily, we surpassed even our greatest wishes and we had a remarkable December and we’re still processing into January.”

Ms Zuill said that final figures had yet to be tallied.

But she added: “I would say we added at least 40 per cent to our volumes over last year, in both private and commercial shipping.”

Ms Zuill said: “Business really should double or go up three or four times more than in previous months, the last quarter being the season.

“It’s not necessarily just December. The last quarter should be the busiest and it certainly was for us.”