Retail trade

In August 2020 estimates for seasonally adjusted index of retail trade were nearly at pre-pandemic levels, as value rose by 8.2% and volume increased by 11.2% in the month on month series.

In the three months to August 2020, both value and volume showed a strong growth (+22.8% and +22.4% respectively) due to monthly rises in June and August when compared with steep decline occurred over lockdown in March and April.

Compared with August 2019, value of sales was up 0.8% in August 2020, this is the first year on year increase since February 2020, the volume remained unchanged instead.

After decreasing in the previous months, in August 2020 large-scale distribution slightly rose by 0.4%, while small-scale distribution was still negative, dropping by 0.5%. Non-store retail sales were down 3.3% when compared with August 2019.

Online sales strongly grew by 36.8% in the year on year series.

Looking at the value of sales for non-food products, there was a mixed picture across the different categories. The largest growths were reported for Computers and telecommunications equipment (+12.3%) and Tools (+8.4%), while the largest falls reported concerned Stationery, books, newspapers and magazines (-7.7%) and Other goods (-5.2%).