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Retail

German Retail Sales Headed For Strong 2020 As Consumers Spend Through Pandemic

By Steve Wynne-Jones
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German Retail Sales Headed For Strong 2020 As Consumers Spend Through Pandemic

German retail sales are expected to have grown around 4% during 2020 following a buoyant November, the country's Statistics Office has said, indicating that consumers spent their way through the broader economic damage wrought by the coronavirus.

Retail sales rose 1.9% in November, against analysts' expectations of a contraction, thanks to very strong growth in online sales and in spending on home improvements, the office said.

That month's figures relate to a period when Germany was in partial lockdown, with shops still open. Most shops were forced to close from mid-December when curbs were tightened to contain surging infection rates.

The Statistics Office said its provisional full-year growth figure - contrasting with an expected drop of 5.5% in gross domestic product, according to Bundesbank data - included December's full lockdown.

'Greater Uncertainties'

It also said the estimate was "freighted with greater uncertainties" than usual due to the pandemic.

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November's biggest winners were in online and delivery retail, where revenues rose 31.8% compared to November 2019, while spending on household decorations, appliances and building materials rose 15.4%.

Sales from supermarkets and sales of food and tobacco grew modestly.

Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco products achieved a 0.8% (real) and 3.4% (nominal) increase in sales in November 2020 compared to November 2019. Sales in supermarkets, hypermarkets and hypermarkets were up 1.3% in real terms and 3.9% in nominal terms on the same month last year.

Clothing sales fell 20%, while mixed retail – a category including department stores – was down 6.1%.

News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.

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