Retailers have accepted that January sales can not go on as normal, but say stock will need to be cleared before spring.
Retail Excellence Ireland says sales will not be promoted in the same way as previous years but they expect a lot of transactions to go online.
Managing director of the group, Duncan Graham, says winter stock must be cleared to make room for next season's products.
"At some point we will need to clear out all this Autumn/Winter stock, in order to make way for the new Spring/Summer stock that will come through for 2021. At some point we will need to action further discounts in order to clear that product. Ideally, we'll clear quite a bit of it online. "
Non-essential retailers will stay open tomorrow as other businesses are forced to shut their doors. Restaurants, gastropubs have to close at 3pm as we enter level 5 restrictions and will remain closed until January 12th at the earliest.
