Retail sales fell 1.5% in June after two consecutive months of growth

Jul 26. () –

Retail sales in June fell by 1.5% compared to the same month in 2023, a rate 1.9 points lower than the previous month, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on Friday.

With the June decline, retail sales have broken two consecutive months of positive year-on-year rates, after having increased by 2.7% and 0.4% in April and May, respectively.

Within the retail sector, food sales fell by 1.2% year-on-year, while sales of other products fell by 0.6% compared to June 2023, with declines of 7% and 1.6% in sales of household equipment and personal equipment, respectively. In contrast, health care sales increased by 1.9%.

Sales at service stations fell by 2% in the sixth month of the year compared to the same month last year.

By distribution methods, the only year-on-year declines in sales were recorded by small chains (-0.8%), large stores (-4.7%), and e-commerce (-18.4%), in contrast to the advances by single-location companies (+1.6%) and large chains (+1.5%).

After seasonal and calendar effects, retail sales rose by 0.3% in the sixth month of the year, a rate one-tenth higher than in May.

In the first six months of the year, retail sales increased by an average of 1.1% compared to the same period last year (+0.7% seasonally adjusted). However, e-commerce sales decreased by an average of 9.4%.

SALES UP 0.3% IN THE MONTH

On a monthly basis (June over May) and after eliminating the seasonal and calendar effect, retail sales rose by 0.3%, compared with a 0.6% drop in May.

Within the corrected series and by distribution methods, the only two monthly increases in sales were for small chains (+1.4%) and single-location companies (+0.7%).

In June, sales of food products rose by 0.5% compared to the previous month, while sales of other products increased by 0.4%. Meanwhile, sales at service stations fell by 1%.

EMPLOYMENT GROWS BY 1.5%

As for employment, retail trade increased its employment by 1.5% in June compared to the same month in 2023, a rate two-tenths lower than that of May. Despite this, employment in retail trade has now chained together 38 consecutive months of year-on-year increases.

The largest year-on-year increases in employment were seen in large chains (+2.4%), followed by service stations (+1.6%) and single-location companies (+1.5%).

On a monthly basis, employment in the retail sector rose by 2%, with the rise in employment in small chains (+4.4%) and large stores (+3.7%) standing out.

THIRTEEN COMMUNITIES INCREASE SALES

In May, retail sales rose at an annual rate in three autonomous communities, especially in the Canary Islands (+1.9%), the Community (+1.1%) and Andalusia (+0.9%).

On the other hand, sales in the sector fell in June in fourteen regions: Madrid (-6.1%), Asturias (-4%), Ceuta (-3.7%) and the Basque Country (-2.8%).