Retail sales: Europe

Developments

August 2023

• In August 2023, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade decreased by 1.2% in the euro area and by 0.9% in the EU, compared with July 2023.

• In August 2023 compared with August 2022, the calendar adjusted retail sales index decreased by 2.1% in the euro area and by 2.0% in the EU. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.3% month fall and a 1.2% year-on-year decline.

• The monthly fall was caused mainly by a sharp drop in mail orders and shopping on the internet which fell 4.5% and a drop in the sale of petrol, down 3.0%.
• The monthly percentage change for July 2023 has been revised from -0.2% to -0.1% in the euro area and from -0.3% to -0.1% in the EU. The annual percentage decrease remained unchanged at -1.0% in the euro area and it has been revised from -1.2% to -1.1% in the EU.

	M/M Change						Y/Y Change
Euro area	23-Mar	23-Apr	23-May	23-Jun	23-Jul	23-Aug	Mar 23	Apr 23	May 23	Jun 23	Jul 23	Aug 23
Total retail trade	-0.4	0	0.4	0	-0.1	-1.2	-3.3	-2.8	-2.1	-0.8	-1.0	-2.1
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1.1	0.4	0.4	0.1	0	-1.2	-6.2	-4.4	-2.7	-2.6	-2.2	-3.2
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:	-0.6	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.2	-0.9	-1.6	-1.3	-1.5	0.7	1.0	-0.2
Mail orders and internet	-0.9	2.8	-0.6	1.1	3.7	-4.5	-3.4	-3.5	-2.9	-1.7	0.4	-1.0
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.4	-2.2	0.6	-0.3	-0.6	-3	2.3	-2.3	-1.1	-1.0	-2.3	-7.7
EU
Total retail trade	-0.3	0	0.3	-0.1	-0.1	-0.9	-3.6	-3.0	-2.4	-1.0	-1.1	-2.0
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1	0.5	0.4	0.1	-0.1	-0.9	-6.1	-4.5	-2.7	-2.8	-2.4	-3.0
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:	-0.7	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.2	-0.6	-2.4	-1.7	-1.8	0.4	0.7	-0.1
Mail orders and internet	-1	2.7	-0.5	0.9	3.8	-3.1	-3.0	-2.0	-1.9	-0.9	2.1	1.5
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.2	-2.3	0.4	-0.4	-0.6	-2.4	1.5	-2.9	-2.1	-1.9	-3.0	-7.4

July 2023

Retail sales volumes in the 20 nations sharing the euro currency fell by 0.2% in July from June and were 1.0% lower year-on-year.

That compared with average forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists of a 0.1% monthly decline and a 1.2% drop from a year earlier.

The monthly percentage change for June 2023 has been revised from -0.3% to +0.2% in the euro area and from -0.2% to +0.2% in the EU. The annual percentage change has been revised from -1.4% to -1.0% in the euro area and from -1.6% to -1.1% in the EU.

Volume of retail trade

			M/M Change						Y/Y Change
Euro area			Feb 23	Mar 23	Apr 23	May 23	Jun 23	Jul 23	Feb 23	Mar 23	Apr 23	May 23	Jun 23	Jul 23
Total retail trade			-0.1	-0.4	0.0	0.6	0.2	-0.2	-2.3	-3.3	-2.8	-2.3	-1.0	-1.0
Food, drinks, tobacco			-0.4	-0.8	-0.2	0.3	0.2	0.4	-4.6	-6.1	-4.5	-2.9	-2.7	-2.2
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			0.1	-0.7	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.5	-0.7	-1.5	-1.2	-1.5	0.6	1.1
Mail orders and internet			2.1	-0.8	1.6	-0.9	1.5	3.8	-7.1	-4.6	-4.5	-4.2	-2.8	-2.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			-1.3	0.4	-2.3	0.5	-0.3	-1.2	0.4	1.8	-3.1	-1.5	-1.8	-3.4
EU
Total retail trade			-0.3	-0.5	0.1	0.4	0.2	-0.3	-2.5	-3.6	-3.0	-2.5	-1.1	-1.2
Food, drinks, tobacco			-0.4	-0.8	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.2	-4.7	-6.1	-4.7	-2.9	-2.8	-2.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			-0.3	-0.8	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.6	-0.8	-2.4	-1.6	-1.8	0.2	0.7
Mail orders and internet			2.2	-0.9	1.7	-0.8	1.3	4.0	-5.8	-3.9	-2.9	-2.9	-1.9	-0.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			-1.3	0.1	-2.3	0.3	-0.5	-1.1	-1.0	1.2	-3.4	-2.5	-2.4	-3.9

June 2023

% change compared with the previous month

			Jan 23	Feb 23	Mar 23	Apr 23	May 23	Jun 23
Euro area
Total retail trade			0.9	-0.2	-0.4	0.0	0.6	-0.3
Food, drinks, tobacco			1.8	-0.3	-0.8	-0.3	0.3	-0.3
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			1.3	-0.1	-0.7	0.3	0.6	-0.2
Mail orders and internet			-3.0	2.1	-0.7	1.6	-1.0	1.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			-1.6	-1.2	0.5	-2.4	0.5	1.0
EU
Total retail trade			0.9	-0.3	-0.4	0.1	0.3	-0.2
Food, drinks, tobacco			1.7	-0.4	-0.8	-0.3	0.4	-0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			1.6	-0.4	-0.9	0.5	0.4	-0.2
Mail orders and internet			-2.5	2.2	-0.9	2.0	-1.2	1.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			-2.6	-1.2	0.2	-2.6	0.6	0.7

% change compared with the same month of the previous year

			Jan 23	Feb 23	Mar 23	Apr 23	May 23	Jun 23
Euro area
Total retail trade			-1.8	-2.4	-3.3	-2.8	-2.4	-1.4
Food, drinks, tobacco			-4.6	-4.6	-6.1	-4.5	-3.0	-3.5
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			0.0	-0.8	-1.6	-1.2	-1.6	0.0
Mail orders and internet			-9.5	-7.1	-4.6	-4.4	-4.2	-3.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			4.8	0.4	1.9	-3.0	-1.6	-0.4
EU
Total retail trade			-1.5	-2.5	-3.7	-3.0	-2.6	-1.6
Food, drinks, tobacco			-4.4	-4.6	-6.1	-4.7	-3.0	-3.6
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:			0.0	-0.9	-2.4	-1.6	-2.0	-0.2
Mail orders and internet			-8.7	-5.8	-3.9	-2.5	-2.8	-2.2
Automotive fuel in specialised stores			4.7	-1.0	1.3	-3.5	-2.3	-1.3