The retail trade index measures the monthly evolution of the turnover at current prices of businesses which are engaged in retail trade. From this bulletin (referred to January 2018) onwards, the indices will be calculated with reference to the base year 2015, using the Ateco 2007 classification (Italian edition of Nace Rev. 2) and a new index measuring online sales will be released to estimate how much was sold through online retailers in Italy.
The value of retail trade in January 2018 is estimated to have decreased by 0.8% while the volume dropped by 1.9% compared with January 2017.
The underlying pattern in the data, as suggested by the 3 month on 3 month movement, showed falls, as the value went down 0.2% and the volume went down 0.5%
The monthly picture shows a decrease both in the value (-0.5%) and in the volume (-0.7%).
The value of online sales increased by 2.4% in January 2018 compared with January 2017, while both small scale distribution and large scale distribution fell by 1.2