Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that in October retail sales in Germany decreased by 0.3% (seasonally adjusted) after falling by 1.9% in September (revised from -2.5%). Economists had expected a 1.0% increase. Compared to February 2020 (before the outbreak of the pandemic in Germany), retail sales increased by 3.5%.
Destatis also reported that year-on-year retail sales decreased by 2.9% in October, which was due to delivery bottlenecks in retail trade
Retail trade in food, beverages and tobacco products decreased in October by 0.7% (seasonally adjusted) compared to the previous month, and was 4.1% lower than in February 2020.. Sales of supermarkets, department stores and hypermarkets increased by 0.5% compared to the previous month, but were 2.1% below the pre-crisis level.
In October, there was also an increase in sales in the non-food sector - by 0.6% compared to September and by 7.0% compared to February 2020. Trade in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods showed a 5.4% increase in sales compared to September 2021, but was 3.5% lower than the pre-crisis level. Sales on the Internet and by mail showed a 4.9% increase compared to the previous month. Sales in this industry continue to remain significantly above the level of February 2020 (+32.9%).