Retail turnover more than 1 percent up

In September, retail turnover was more than 1 percent up on one year previously. With 0.5 percent, price rises were moderate. Turnover volume grew by less than 1 percent.

The unfavourable shopping day pattern (September 2007 had one Friday less and one Sunday more compared to September last year) restrained turnover growth. After a rough correction for this effect, turnover grew by over 4 percent in September. In the first eight months of this year, turnover was on average 4 percent higher than one year previously. Last year, turnover growth still exceeded 5 percent.

In September, the non-food sector realised a turnover growth of nearly 3 percent compared to one year ago. Clothes shops and textile supermarkets in particular performed well. Chemist’s shops and DIY shops faced loss of turnover. Shops selling food, drinks and tobacco lost about 1.5 percent turnover. Especially in this sector, turnover was affected by the unfavourable shopping day pattern in September. Sales dropped in specialised shops, but supermarkets also suffered loss of turnover.

On average, turnover growth continued throughout the third quarter and was 2.5 percent up on one year previously. There are more than 7 million households in the Netherlands; they spent an average of 3,200 euro in retail shops.

Retail turnover is an important indicator of “household consumption”. For the relation between these two concepts, the reader is referred to the focus article Short-term statistics on retail trade and consumption by households.

Retail turnover