Retail trade

In October 2019 estimates of retail trade were down 0.2% (both in value and volume terms) when compared to September 2019.

In the three months to October 2019, both value and volume of retail sales increased by 0.1% when compared with the previous three months.

Year-on-year both value and volume of retail trade rose for the fifth consecutive month in October 2019, increasing by 1.0% and 0.8% respectively.

Total sales of large scale distribution were up 1.8% from the same period a year ago, while small scale distribution was down 0.8%.

Online sales continued to grow at a steady rate in the year-on-year series, increasing by 16.6% in October 2019.

Looking at the value of sales for non-food products, the largest growths were reported for Computers and telecommunications equipment (+2.7%) and Sporting equipment, games and toys (+2.4%), while the only falls reported concerned Pharmaceutical products and Stationery, books, newspapers and magazines (both -1.6%) and Optical instruments and photographic equipment (-1.5%).