The turnover of retail trade enterprises grew also in the last month of the year
According to Statistics Estonia, in December 2016, compared to December 2015, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased 3% at constant prices.
In December 2016, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 619.4 million euros.
The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased 9% compared to December 2015. Turnover increased in all economic activities. Turnover grew the most in stores selling via mail order or the Internet, with sales increasing 31% during the year. A higher-than-average increase in turnover occurred also in stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics (12% growth) and in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail sale (stalls, markets, direct sale (11% growth).
The turnover of grocery stores has been stable in recent months. In December, the turnover of these stores stayed at the same level as in December 2015.
The turnover of enterprises engaging in the retail sales of automotive fuel, which recovered slightly in November, again turned to fall in December and decreased 7% compared to December 2015. The turnover fall in these enterprises was influenced by the considerable acceleration in the price increase of automotive fuel in December.
Compared to November 2016, in December, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased 15%. This is a usual rise in December, when the Christmas and turn-of-the-year sales take place.
According to preliminary data, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 6.3 billion euros in 2016. Compared to 2015, the turnover increased 4%.
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. For the statistical activity “Economic indicators of trade enterprises”, the main representative of public interest is the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, commissioned by whom Statistics Estonia performs this statistical activity.