Swiss Retail Sales -2.3 percent nominal (YoY) and -1.6 percent real (YoY)

01.07.2016 09:15  – FSO, Economic Surveys (0353-1606-60)

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The Used Goods Question

Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Italy, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall. In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so that used goods do not lose their value so quickly. Hence used goods have higher economic value in these countries than in others.

Retail trade turnover in May 2016

Swiss retail trade turnover falls by 2.3%

Neuchâtel, 01.07.2016 (FSO) – Turnover in the retail sector fell by 2.3% in nominal terms in May 2016 compared with the previous year. This decline has been ongoing since January 2015. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 0.1% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 1.6% in May 2016 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes inflation into consideration. Compared with the previous month, real, seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover registered an increase of 0.2%.

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Retail sector excluding service stations: stable food sector
Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 2.0% decrease in nominal turnover in May 2016 compared with May 2015 (in real terms -1.3%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered an increase in nominal turnover of 0.1% (in real terms +0.1%), whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal negative of 3.5% (in real terms -1.7%).

Excluding service stations, the retail sector showed a seasonally adjusted decline in nominal turnover of 0.1% compared with the previous month (in real terms +0.1%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a plus of 0.1% (in real terms +0.2%). The non-food sector showed a minus of 0.2% (in real terms +0.2%).

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