Monthly survey on retail trade 2021Oct
Published on 18 November 2021
After peaking in spring, retail trade sales stand around their 2019 level
Note: The trend in retail sales does not reflect that of total household consumption: the latter includes other items such as health care, education and rents.
Over the past three months, turnover in retail trade declined by 1.2% (adjusted for seasonal and working-day variations). It remained close to its pre-crisis level (-0.4% compared to the 2019 average). Changes in the past three months were driven by manufactured good sales, which fell by 1.7%, while growth in food sales was stable at 0.3%. Turnover was down in particular for furniture (-9.4%), DIY (-5.9%) and press and stationery (-5.2%); conversely, increases were recorded for games and toys (14.4%) and perfumes and toilet preparations (11.5%). By distribution channel, small retailers and large general retailers were down, with the exception of department stores, which experienced a strong growth. Final data for distance selling are not yet available for October, but they were down year-on-year by 1.5% in September, and by 8.1% in August.
In October, sales decreased by 0.9% compared to September (-0.2% for food and -1.8% for manufactured goods). Small retailers grew by 1.1% and large retailers remained almost stable, ticking down by 0.3%.
In October, sales decreased by 0.9% compared to September (-0.2% for food and -1.8% for manufactured goods). Small retailers grew by 1.1% and large retailers remained almost stable, ticking down by 0.3%.
Total manufactured goods and food sales: T/T-1 change (%)
Quarter-on-quarter change ; seasonally and working-day adjusted volume terms
Notes :
- The quarter-on-quarter change is calculated as the ratio of the average of the indices for the current quarter (August-September-October) to the average for the previous quarter (May-June-July).
- Sectors are classified according to the relative weight of the products included in the total aggregate of retail trade (see methodology)
- The aggregated and by sub-sector series are seasonally adjusted on an individual basis: the seasonally adjusted series do not represent the sum of the seasonally adjusted components.
- The quarter-on-quarter change is calculated as the ratio of the average of the indices for the current quarter (August-September-October) to the average for the previous quarter (May-June-July).
- Sectors are classified according to the relative weight of the products included in the total aggregate of retail trade (see methodology)
- The aggregated and by sub-sector series are seasonally adjusted on an individual basis: the seasonally adjusted series do not represent the sum of the seasonally adjusted components.
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COM_DET_2242_en__retail-trade-october-2021.pdf
Additional links
Breakdown by industrial product and outlet category – October 2021