About the Centre for Retail Studies

The Centre for Retail Studies (in Icelandic, Rannsóknasetur verslunarinnar) is the leading provider of statistics and research on the Icelandic retail sector. The Centre's main role is to track changes and development in the retail trade and consumer behavior in Iceland, and to provide information on them to both companies and the general public. Managers of retail enterprises rely on the Centre's data for everyday business decisions and long-term planning.

History
The Centre for Retail Studies was founded in 2004. Besides Bifröst University, it is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Federation of Trade and Services (Samtök verslunar og þjónustu), the Icelandic Motor Trade Federation (Bílgreinasambandið), and the Retailers' Association of Iceland (Kaupmannasamtök Íslands) and VR - a commercial and office workers' union.  The Retailers' Association provides the Centre with grant support for publishing the Retail statistical yearbook (Árbók verslunarinnar). The Centre also receives income from research grants and from research projects commissioned by individual companies, organizations and government bodies.

Activities
Among the Centre's regular activities is the monthly Retail Index (Smásöluvísitala), which tracks turnover trends in the grocery, clothing, shoe, alcohol, electronics and furniture sectors. The index is based on sales information from fifty retail firms, which operate over 300 sales outlets, and send data to the Centre each month. The index is a very important tool for those managing retail firms, as it shows whether the performance of a given store or chain of stores is consistent with more general trends, or whether sales are diverging from nationwide averages – in which case action may need to be taken. The index is available on the Centre's website.

The Centre regularly compiles statistics for various industry associations. For example, each month it compiles information on used car sales, broken down by make, as well as other auto industry statistics for the Icelandic Motor Trade Federation. For the Icelandic Publishers' Association, the Centre issues a regular bestseller list based on information from all of Iceland's major bookstores. The Centre compiles a regular statistical summary for SART,  an association of Icelandic employers in the computer and electrical sector. The Centre also takes on projects for individual companies.

For more information on the Centre, please contact the director:

Emil B. Karlsson
email: emil@bifrost.is  

Centre for Retail Studies board of directors:

• Eysteinn Helgason (chair), from the company Kaupás
• Andrés Magnússon, managing director of the Federation of Trade and Services (Samtök verslunar og þjónustu)
• Össur Lárusson, managing director of the Icelandic Motor Trade Federation

Center for Retail Studies staff:

• Emil B. Karlsson, director
• Kári Joensen, economist

• Pálína Kristinsdóttir, project manager
  

Contact:

Bifröst University
311 Borgarnes
Tel. +354 433 3000, mobile +354 822 1203

Reykjavík office:

Skeifan 8

108 Reykjavík