The turnover of retail trade enterprises continued to grow in July

In July 2016, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 568.2 million euros.

The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased 3% compared to July 2015. The turnover increased in four and decreased in three economic activities. Turnover increased the most in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail sale (stalls, markets, direct sale), with sales increasing 23% year-over-year. Turnover increased also in stores selling via mail order or the Internet (13% growth), in stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics (10% growth) and in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials (7% growth). The turnover in other specialised stores, such as stores selling computers and their accessories, books, sports equipment, games and toys etc, in non-specialised stores selling predominantly industrial goods (e.g. department stores) and in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear decreased compared to July of the previous year.

The turnover in grocery stores has been growing steadily for the last two months. Similarly to June, the turnover of these stores increased 1% in July compared to the same month of the previous year.

The turnover of enterprises engaging in the retail sales of automotive fuel increased 4% compared to July 2015.

Compared to the previous month, in July, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased 4%. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, the growth was 2%. In the seven months of 2016 (January–July), 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 four working days.