Retail Trade - August 2011

In August, sales in retail trade including automotive segment after seasonal and working day adjustment increased at constant prices by 0.1%, month-on-month. Only working days adjusted sales increased by 0.5%, year-on-year. Y-o-y increase of non-adjusted sales by 2.3% was owed mainly to sale of motor vehicles and a higher number of working days.
After seasonal and working day adjustment sales in retail trade including sale and repair of motor vehicles increased at constant prices by 0.1% in August, m-o-m; only working days adjusted increased by 0.5%, year-on-year. Y-o-y non-adjusted sales growth by 2.3% was influenced mainly by growth of sales in ‘wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles’ the contribution of which was 1.9 p.p. (see Table 2) and also by a higher number of working days (+1).
Seasonally adjusted sales in sale and repair of motor vehicles (CZ-NACE 45) increased by 0.1% at constant prices, m-o-m; in the year-on-year comparison, adjusted for working days increased by 3.3%. Non-adjusted sales increased by 6.5%, y-o-y, in which for sale of motor vehicles and motorcycles (including spare parts) by 7.0% and for maintenance and repair of motor vehicles by 4.2%.
In retail sale including sale of automotive fuel (CZ-NACE 47) seasonally adjusted sales at constant prices increased by 0.1%, m-o-m; working days adjusted dropped by 0.6%, y-o-y. Non-adjusted sales increased by 0.6%, y-o-y, in which for non-food goods it was by 1.4% and for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.9%, while for food (retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating and retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores) they dropped by 0.7%. Sales for automotive fuel have increased for the first time since April 2010.

The fastest growing was retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet (+9.9%) and retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores (+8.5%). Besides the already mentioned automotive fuel, the following contributed to the overall increase: retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores (+2.5%), sale of dispensing chemist, medical and orthopaedic goods, cosmetic and toilet articles in specialised stores (+1.0%), and retail sale of cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores (+0.7%). On the contrary, drop of sales continued in: retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-0.8%), retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating (-0.6%), and in other retail sale in non-specialised stores (-1.8%). After 15 months of continuous growth, sales decreased for the first time in retail sale of clothing, footwear and leather goods in specialised stores (-0.8%).

The price deflator related to the corresponding period of the previous year was 102.6% and it was influenced mainly by higher prices of automotive fuel and food. This development was reflected in the total price growth in retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating and retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (+4.5%). The deepest price falls were in retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores (-11.7%), other household equipment in specialised stores (-2.1%), and clothing, footwear, and leather goods (-1.9%).

International comparison of retail sales development in the EU Member States is available at: ( http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home).

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Methodological note:
Responsible head: Marie Boušková, phone (+420) 274052935, e-mail: marie.bouskova@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Marcela Mašátová, phone (+420) 274052681, e-mail: marcela.masatova@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct surveys of the CZSO (SP1-12)
End of data collection: 27 September 2011
End of data processing: 3 October 2011
Data for August 2011 are preliminary; final data for all months of 2011 will be available in June 2012 at the latest.
Related publications: Base and y-o-y indices from 2000 and 2001 are available in time series
( /sales_indices_monthly_retail_trade_hotels_and_restaurants_time_series ).
The next News Release will be published on 8 November 2011.