Retail sales down

Retail turnover in the Netherlands was 8.1 percent down in January 2005 on the same month last year. Prices in the shops were 1.4 percent lower than twelve months previously.  The volume of turnover was 6.8 percent smaller, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. The drop in retail turnover was exacerbated by the difference in the pattern of shopping days between January this year and January last year. After correction for this shopping day effect, retail turnover was 1.5 percent lower than twelve months previously.

Turnover down in food…

Shops selling food and drink, and alcohol and tobacco booked 9 percent less turnover than in January last year. After correction for the shopping day effect, turnover was 1 percent lower than last year. Supermarkets, by far the largest branch in the food sector, had 9.2 percent less turnover than twelve months previously. Specialist shops such as greengrocers and butchers saw their turnover drop by 8.3 percent.

… and non-food sectors

Non-food retail outlets booked 7.7 percent less turnover than in January last year. After shopping-day correction this was about 2 percent less. All non-food branches suffered turnover losses in January. The largest decrease was for chemists, whose takings were more than 15 percent lower than twelve months previously. Shops selling consumer electronics and household items, and textile superstores also booked substantially less turnover than in January 2004. 

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