Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that in November, retail sales (seasonally adjusted) increased by 0.6% after an increase of 0.5% in October (revised from -0.3%). Economists had expected sales to fall 0.5%. Destatis reported that turnover in retail trade recorded a new record high in 2021.
Meanwhile, in annual terms, retail sales decreased by 2.9% after falling by 0.8% in October (revised from -2.9%). Economists had expected a decline by 4.9%. The reasons for decline in sales could be the supply bottlenecks in the retail trade as well as the sharp increase in retail prices.
The data also showed that compared to the pre-crisis month of February 2020, retail sales were 5.9% higher in real terms.
In November 2021, the retail trade in food, beverages and tobacco products generated 0.9% more sales in real terms in calendar and seasonally adjusted terms compared to the previous month and was 2.9% below the level of the last pre-crisis month of February 2020. Sales of supermarkets and hypermarkets increased by 0.8% compared to the previous month. Compared to the pre-crisis level, sales decreased by 0.8%.
The retail trade in non-food products experienced a moderate increase in sales in November 2021. Real sales in November 2021 were 0.6% higher on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis than in October 2021 and, with an increase of 9.4%, were significantly higher than the pre-crisis level of February 2020. However, trade in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods recorded a decline in sales of 3.8% compared to October 2021 and was 6.2% below the pre-crisis level.
Despite discount campaigns such as "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday", the Internet and mail order business recorded a real, calendar- and seasonally adjusted sales decline of 3.1% in November 2021 compared to the previous month. However, sales in this industry are still well above the level of February 2020 with an increase of 30.3%.