In October, the turnover growth of retail trade enterprises decelerated slightly

In October 2016, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 537.4 million euros. The deceleration in turnover growth was influenced the most by enterprises engaging in the retail sales of automotive fuel, where the sales decreased 12% compared to October 2015. The turnover fall in these enterprises was partly influenced by the high reference base of October 2015 and acceleration in the price increase of automotive fuel.

The turnover of grocery stores has been rather stable in recent months. In October, the turnover of these stores remained on the same level as in October 2015.

The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased 10% compared to October 2015. Turnover increased in all economic activities. The increase was the biggest in stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics, with sales having increased 15% compared to October of the previous year. An above-average increase in turnover occurred also in other specialised stores, such as stores selling computers and their accessories, books, sports equipment, games and toys etc. (14% growth). In October, the turnover of non-specialised stores selling predominantly industrial goods (e.g. department stores), having shown a small decline in September, went on an uptrend again and grew 3% compared to the same month of the previous year. Turnover increased also in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear (6% growth), in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail sale (stalls, markets, direct sale) (7% growth), in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials (9% growth) and in stores selling via mail order or the Internet (10% growth).

Compared to the previous month, in October, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased 3%. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, the growth was 1%. In the ten months of 2016 (January–October), turnover in retail trade enterprises increased 4% 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 reduced the response burden of entrepreneurs and Statistics Estonia’s expenditure on data collection, and increased 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. 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.