Medienmitteilung

Retail trade turnover in December 2021 Swiss retail trade turnover fell in December by 0.5% - rise of 4.2% in 2021 as a whole

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Swiss retail trade turnover fell by 0.4% in February 2024

01.02.2022 - Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 0.5% in nominal terms in December 2021 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 2.2% compared with the previous month. The result for 2021 was a considerable nominal rise of 4.2%. All sectors were able to offset most of the losses suffered partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 0.4% in December 2021 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes inflation into consideration. Compared with the previous month, real, seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover registered a decline of 2.0%.

Retail sector excluding service stations

Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 1.8% decrease in nominal turnover in December 2021 compared with December 2020 (in real terms –1.5%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a decline in nominal turnover of 7.7% (in real terms –6.9%), whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal plus of 2.9% (in real terms +2.8%).

Excluding service stations, the retail sector showed a seasonally adjusted decline in nominal turnover of 2.2% compared with the previous month (in real terms –2.1%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a nominal minus of 1.9% (in real terms –1.7%). The non-food sector showed a minus of 2.5% (in real terms –2.8%).

2021 as a whole: Sectors saw some major increases in turnover

For 2021 as a whole, Swiss retail trade registered a provisional increase in nominal turnover of 4.2% (+0.8% in real terms) compared with the previous year. In the previous year, the increase was 1.0% (in real terms + 1.7%). With the exception of the food industry, all sectors showed strong growth and were able to offset most of the losses seen in the previous year.

Although retail trade of food, drinks and tobacco stagnated in nominal terms (in real terms +1.2%), in the previous year it rose sharply in nominal terms with 8.9% (in real terms +8.6%).

The non-food sector recorded a nominal plus of 7.4% (in real terms +7.6%). In 2020, turnover showed negative figures (in nominal terms –3.7%; in real terms –2.5%).

The sectors “information and communication equipment” (+7.8%; +11.4% in real terms) and “market stalls, retail sale via mail order houses or via internet” (+6.3%; +6.8% in real terms) confirmed their upwards trend. In the previous year, with nominal +17.1% (in real terms +25.8%) and +14.3% (in real terms +15.0%) respectively, they had already shown positive figures. The sector “other household equipment, textiles, DIY and furniture” also joined this trend with a rise in turnover (in nominal terms +3.5% and in real terms +1.8%), (2020: in nominal terms +2.7%; in real terms +3.3%).

The sectors “other goods (clothing, chemists, watches and jewellery)” (+11.0%; in real terms +11.9%) and “cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores” (+6.6%; in real terms +55.9%) were able to compensate their losses of the previous year.

Lastly, the sector “service stations” was able to post a nominal increase of 12.8% (2020: –14.2%). In real terms, turnover fell in both 2021 (–3.0%) and 2020 (–3.9%).

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