Retail trade - January 2021

In January, sales adjusted for calendar effects decreased by 6.5% in real terms (at constant prices), year‑on‑year (y-o-y). Non-adjusted sales decreased by 9.0%, y-o-y. Seasonally adjusted sales in retail trade decreased by 6.6%, month-on-month (m-o-m).

Seasonally adjusted sales in retail trade, except of motor vehicles¹⁾ decreased in real terms (at constant prices) by 6.6%, m-o-m, in January. Sales for sale of food decreased by 0.6% and sales for sale of non-food goods decreased by 12.7%, whereas sales for sale of automotive fuel increased by 2.8%.  

Sales in retail trade adjusted for calendar effects decreased by 6.5%, y-o-y. Sales for sale of food decreased by 2.7%, sales for sale of non-food goods decreased by 8.4%, and sales for sale of automotive fuel dropped by 9.8%. January 2021 had two working days less than January 2020.

Non-adjusted sales in retail trade decreased by 9.0%, y-o-y. Sales for sale of food decreased by 4.1%, sales for sale of non-food goods decreased by 11.7%, and sales for sale of automotive fuel dropped by 12.1%.

Measures against the spread of coronavirus continued throughout all of January. Restrictions on sale or complete closures of stores with some assortments of non-food goods had an influence on the development of retail trade sales. Only retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet²⁾ reported year-on-year growth of sales. Sale over the Internet has been dynamically growing over a long period of time; in January, the sales increased by 34.5%. Conversely, sale in brick‑and‑mortar shops reported decrease in all assortment types of goods. In retail sale of clothing, footwear and leather goods in specialised stores sales decreased by 74.1%, in retail sale of cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores they dropped by 33.0%, in retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores they were 23.9% down, in retail sale of cosmetic and toilet articles in specialised stores sales decreased by 11.9%, in retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores they dropped by 9.6%, and in dispensing chemist, medical and orthopaedic goods in specialised stores they decreased by 6.2%. In retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating sales decreased by 3.1% and in retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores they dropped by 19.3%.

The price deflator in retail trade, except for motor vehicles and motorcycles related to the corresponding period of the previous year (VAT excluded) was 99.7%. It was influenced mainly by lower prices of automotive fuel and information and communication equipment. Conversely, prices of clothing, footwear and leather goods, dispensing chemist, medical and orthopaedic goods, cosmetic and toilet articles, other household equipment, cultural and recreation goods, and food increased.

Seasonally adjusted sales for sale and repair of motor vehicles³⁾ increased in real terms (at constant prices) by 6.0%, m-o-m, and sales adjusted for calendar effects increased by 1.4%, y-o-y. Non-adjusted sales decreased by 5.6%, y-o-y; sales for sale of motor vehicles (including spare parts) decreased by 3.4%, y‑o-y, and sales for repair of motor vehicles decreased by 14.2%, y‑o‑y.

International comparison of retail sales development in Member States of the EU is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/short-term-business-statistics/publications.
 

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Notes:

All data in the text of the News Release are at constant prices.
Enterprises are classified to the economic activity according to their principal (prevailing) activity, which is such an activity, from which the enterprise gets the highest value added.
Data for January through December 2020 have been revised in compliance with the CZSO revision policy. Data for January 2021 are preliminary. Final data for all months of 2021 will be published in March 2022.
We point out that since the way estimates for non-surveyed part of the sample are made has changed, previously released data may be revised more.
¹⁾ CZ-NACE 47 – retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles.
²⁾ CZ-NACE 4791 – retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet. 
³⁾ CZ-NACE 45 – wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.

Responsible head at the CZSO: Marie Boušková, Director of the Trade, Transport, Services, Tourism, and Environmental Statistics Department,phone number: (+420) 274 052 935, e-mail: marie.bouskova@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Jana Gotvaldová, Head of the Trade, Transport, and Services Statistics Unit,phone number: (+420) 274 052 691, e-mail: jana.gotvaldova@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct survey of the CZSO (“SP 1–12”)
End of data collection: 5 March 2021
End of data processing: 10 March 2021
Related outputs: Base indices and y-o-y indices since 2000 and 2001, respectively, are available in time series
(https://csu.gov.cz/sales_indices_monthly_retail_trade_hotels_and_restaurants_time_series).
Next News Release will be published on: 7 April 2021