In November the stable decrease in retail sales continued

In November, the retail sales of goods of retail trade enterprises were 4.1 billion kroons. Decrease in the retail sales of goods was most influenced by the stores selling manufactured goods, where the retail sales decreased by 24% compared to November 2008. Retail sales decreased the most or 37% in non-specialized stores with industrial goods predominating. In spite of a slight upswing in October in the stores selling textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods, the retail sales in these stores continued a sharp downward trend in November. In these stores the retail sales of goods decreased by a fourth during the year. The decrease in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials and the retail sales in other specialized stores slowed down to some extent. The retail sales of these stores decreased respectively 26% and 36% during the year. However, retail sales recovered remarkably in the stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics, where the downward trend was replaced by the upward trend and the retail sales increased 5% compared to November 2008. An increase in the purchase of pharmaceuticals caused by an extensive spread of virus diseases in November contributed to the bigger sales in these stores.

Since July 2009, decline in the retail sales of grocery stores has steadily shown a 9% decrease every month compared to the respective month of the previous year. But, in November the decline in the retail sales of grocery stores accelerated. Retail sales in these stores decreased 10% compared to November 2008, thus being one of the greatest decreases in 2009 compared to November 2008.

Since the beginning of the 2009, the retail sales have decreased every month at constant prices compared to the previous month according to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data. Also in November, the retail sales decreased by 2% compared to the previous month.

In November the net sales of retail trade enterprises were nearly 5 billion kroons, out of which retail sales of goods accounted for 85%. Compared to November 2008, the net sales decreased 21% at current prices. Compared to October 2009, this indicator decreased 9%.

Retail sales volume index of retail trade enterprises and its trend,
January 2002 – November 2009 (corresponding month of previous year = 100)