Statistics: Retail Revenues Up 4.3 percent Y-o-Y in September

Bratislava, November 7 (TASR) - Retail revenues grew at a faster pace in September 2024, going up by 4.3 percent year-on-year, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday. However, the office noted that the yearly increase was influenced by a lower benchmark last year, when the conversion into fixed prices was affected by high inflation. Meanwhile, retail revenues grew by 1 percent month-on-month in September. The positive performance of the sector as a whole was mainly supported by mail-order shops (entities without outlets), with revenues increasing by more than a third year-on-year. Of the nine monitored components of retail, seven recorded higher revenues than in September 2023. Non-specialised outlets such as hypermarkets and supermarkets increased their revenues by 6.1 percent, which was their best performance since the beginning of the year. Overall retail revenues were also positively influenced by increases in the sales of specialised stores selling other goods, such as footwear, clothing stores, drugstores and pharmacies, going up by 4.4 percent. As for other smaller components, revenues of specialised food, beverages and tobacco grew by double digits, as did those for the smallest component, sales from stalls and markets. Conversely, outlets selling fuel continued to register a decrease in revenues when compared to last year. Revenues also fell by 5 percent for specialised shops selling toys, sporting goods and books. After seasonal adjustments, revenues in wholesale grew by 3.7 percent month-on-month in September, while those in retail rose by 1 percent. However, revenues in the sale and repair of motor vehicles shrank by 0.7 percent, while those in accommodation fell by as much as 18.4 percent and those in restaurants and pubs dropped by 2.1 percent. In the first nine months of 2024, meanwhile, retail revenues grew by 3.7 percent year-on-year on average, with accommodation revenues increasing by 2.1 percent. Revenues in sales and repairs of motor vehicles fell by 0.8 percent, while those wholesale shrank by 2.3 percent and those in restaurants and pubs dropped by 0.3 percent. tl/df/zel