According to data released by Statistics Estonia, in April, the turnover of retail trade companies was 844 million euros. This was a decrease of 11 per cent at constant prices compared with April 2022.
“In April, there was a decline in the turnover of grocery stores, stores selling manufactured goods as well as enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel. Of these three, stores selling manufactured goods reported the biggest fall in turnover at 15 per cent. Turnover was down in all economic activities,” said Johanna Linda Pihlak, an analyst at Statistics Estonia.
Among stores selling manufactured goods, turnover fell the most, by 24 per cent, in stores selling via mail order or the internet. A higher-than-average decrease was also recorded in the turnover of other specialised stores selling predominantly computers and their accessories, books, sports equipment, games, toys, etc. (21 per cent).
Compared with April 2022, turnover decreased by 6 per cent in both grocery stores and enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel.
In April compared with March, the turnover of retail trade enterprises fell by 3 per cent. However, according to seasonally and working-day adjusted data, turnover was unchanged compared with the previous month.
In the first four months of 2023, the turnover of retail trade enterprises decreased by 9 per cent compared with the same period of last year.