The proportion of retail sales transacted online from Irish registered companies fell to 9.2pc last month, down from 11.1pc of all retail sales in March, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Online sales by Irish companies reached a high of 15.3pc in April last year, the first full month of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Overall, retail sales increased by 7.4pc in April compared to March, according to the CSO.

When motor sales are excluded, the volume of retail sales decreased by 4.1pc in April over the previous month.

Sales in April are up 90pc year-on-year, the highest increase on record, however, the annual change was impacted by a historically low base. April last year was the first full month of the lockdown in Ireland.

When motor is excluded, retail sales last month increased by 27.6pc in comparison to April 2020.

The April figures do not include the return of click-and-collect and the re-opening of non-essential retail, both of which happened this month.

The CSO warned that while these annual increases are significant, “caution should be exercised when interpreting these changes, as the comparison is with an historically low base from a year ago.”

Retail sales for April 2021 were 7.1pc higher than in the corresponding month in 2019, according to the CSO data.

Recovering from the extremely low level of April 2020, the sectors with the highest annual increases were furniture and lighting, up 694pc year-on-year, motor sales, up 576pc year-on-year, and paint and glass, which increased 166pc on the prior year.

“While these annual increases look impressive, they simply reflect a recovery from the lows of last year,” Stephanie Kelleher, statistician at the CSO, said.

In April this year, the list of essential retail allowed to remain open was more extensive than April 2020 during the first lockdown.

“By the third lockdown, consumers and retailers had become more accustomed to the restricted market conditions,” Ms Kelleher said.

In April of last year, the annual volume of retail sales in furniture and lighting fell by 86pc, motor sales dropped by 81pc and hardware, paints and glass declined by 49.6pc.

At the other end of the scale, the volume of sales in non-specialised stores, including supermarkets, which remained an essential retail service throughout the duration of the pandemic, had an annual increase of 3.2pc in April this year.