The stable turnover growth of retail trade enterprises continued in September

In September 2016, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 530.4 million euros.

The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased 9% compared to September 2015. Turnover increased in most economic activities. Only the turnover in non-specialized stores selling predominantly industrial goods (e.g. department stores) was smaller than in September of the previous year. Turnover increased the most in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail sale (stalls, markets, direct sale), with sales increasing by a fifth over a year. A higher than average increase in turnover occurred also in stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics (17% growth), in sales via mail order or the Internet (13% growth) and in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials (13% growth).

The turnover in grocery stores, which showed a small fall in August, turned upwards again in September and increased 2% compared to September of the previous year.

The turnover of enterprises engaging in the retail sales of automotive fuel stayed at the same level as in September 2015.

Compared to the previous month, in September, the turnover of retail trade enterprises decreased 6%. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, however, turnover increased 1% compared to the previous month. In the nine months of 2016 (January–September), the turnover in retail trade enterprises increased 5% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

In 2016, to publish monthly statistics on retail trade, Statistics Estonia started to use only the VAT declaration data of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board and stopped data collection with the questionnaire “Turnover”. This will reduce the response burden of entrepreneurs and Statistics Estonia’s expenditure on data collection, and increase the use of administrative data. Due to the change in the data source, the monthly news release “Retail trade” will focus on the turnover of retail trade enterprises, instead of the retail sales of such enterprises. Statistics Estonia will continue publishing the retail sales indicator of retail trade enterprises on a quarterly and yearly basis. Statistics Estonia published the monthly summary in five working days.