The increase in retail trade turnover in March was mainly influenced by stores selling manufactured goods, where turnover rose 33% year on year, according to Statistics Estonia analyst Johanna Linda Pihlak.
“The rapid growth in sales of stores selling manufactured goods was related to the fact that malls were closed last March due to COVID-related restrictions,” Pihlak explained.
Among stores selling manufactured goods, the strongest growth, at 87%, was in sales at stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear. Sales increased by 56% in other specialty stores selling mainly computers and their accessories, books, sporting goods, games, toys, etc., by 55% in other non-specialty stores selling mainly manufactured goods , i.e. department stores, by 43% in stores selling second-hand goods and in non-store retail such as stalls, markets and direct sales, by 29% in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials, and 9% in pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics.
In March 2021, there were significantly more purchases made from online stores. In March, on the other hand, the turnover of stores selling by mail order or online fell by 13%.
Compared to last March, the turnover of grocery stores increased by 1%, while the turnover of companies engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel increased by 22%.
Compared to February, the turnover of retail companies in Estonia increased by a quarter. According to seasonally and working day adjusted data, March sales increased 7% on the month.
In the first quarter of 2022, the turnover of retail companies increased by 10% year on year.
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