April 2012
published on 16 May 2012 

In April, retail business activity contracted by 2.5% (adjusted for seasonal and working day variations). For the February-April period the diminution stood at 2.1% compared with the previous three months.

Sales of industrial goods declined by 2.1% and those of food products by 4.3%, with the latter diminution limited to 1% over the past three months. Sales of books and new automobiles picked up but there were falls in sales of footwear and textiles and clothing: weather conditions were unfavourable compared with the previous month but also compared with April 2011, which was much more clement.
Sales of small retail stores reduced by 1.8%, while those of large general retailers declined by 2.1% as a result of the diminution in the turnover of department stores (down by 5.7%) and, to a lesser extent, of supermarkets (down by 2.9%). Mail order sales ebbed (down by 1.0%) as did those of hypermarkets (down by 0.8%).