Retail trade - May 2026
Sales increased the most from sale of clothing and footwear
Publication Date: 07. 07. 2026
Product Code: 120019-26
Sales in retail trade, except of motor vehicles1) increased in real terms by 1.3%, month‑on‑month, in May. Sales from sale of automotive fuel increased by 1.9%, sales from sale of non-food goods increased by 1.3%, and sales from sale of food by 0.9%.
Year-on-year, sales in retail trade increased in real terms by 4.7% in May. Sales from sale of non-food goods increased by 7.4% and sales from sale of food by 2.9%, whereas sales from sale of automotive fuel decreased by 0.8%.
“Retail sales adjusted for price effects increased, year-on-year, in May with a higher growth rate than the month before. Sales from sale of non-food goods and food increased, whereas sales from sale of automotive fuel decreased. The most successful were retailers in retail sale of clothing, footwear and leather goods in specialised stores,“ Jana Gotvaldová, Head of the Trade, Transport, and Services Statistics Unit of the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), says.
Sales increased, year-on-year, the most markedly in retail sale of clothing, footwear and leather goods in specialised stores, namely by 15.7%. On the other hand, they decreased by 5.4% in retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores. Sales in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating increased by 3.0% and in retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores by 2.6%. In other retail sale in non‑specialised stores, sales increased by 7.8%. In retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet2) sales increased by 11.6%.
Sales for sale and repair of motor vehicles3) increased by 1.0%, m-o-m, in real terms. In the year‑on‑year comparison, sales increased by 4.6%; sales for sale of motor vehicles (including spare parts) increased by 4.9% and sales for repair of motor vehicles increased by 3.4%.
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.
---------------------------
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 and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.
Notes
All data in the text of the news release are given at constant prices. The year-on-year development is published after having been adjusted for the influence of the number of working days (calendar effects). Month on‑month rates have also been seasonally adjusted.
Enterprises are classified to the economic activity according to their principal (prevailing) activity, i.e. such an activity, from which the enterprise gets the highest value added.
Data for April 2026 have been revised in accordance with the CZSO’s Data revision policy. Data for May 2026 are preliminary; final data for all months of 2026 will be published in March 2027.
Detailed time series of short-term statistics on retail trade are primarily presented via the DataStat application – topic: Sectors – Trade – Short-term statistics on trade.
Methodology: https://csu.gov.cz/methodology-monthly-sales-indices-in-trade
Responsible head at the CZSO: Pavel Vančura, Director of the Trade, Transport, Services, Tourism, and Environmental Statistics Department, T: +420 274 052 096, +420 732 348 337, E: pavel.vancura@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Jana Gotvaldová, Head of the Trade, Transport, and Services Statistics Unit, T: +420 274 052 691, +420 735 130 284, E: jana.gotvaldova@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct survey of the CZSO (“SP 1–12”)
End of data collection: 30 June 2026
End of data processing: 1 July 2026
Related outputs: time series in the DataStat database: https://data.csu.gov.cz/datastat/dash?aPolozka=OBC01
Next news release will be published on: 5 August 2026