Turnover in retail trade, August 2020
Retail trade increased in August
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-09-28 9.30
The retail trade sales volume increased by 3.0 percent in August 2020 compared with the same month a year ago. Retail sales in durables increased by 3.1 percent, while retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget, the state-owned chain of liquor stores) increased by 1.6 percent. These figures are working-day adjusted and in fixed prices.
In fixed prices, and in non-working-day adjusted figures, total retail trade increased by 0.6 percent in volume compared with the corresponding period a year ago. Durables (such as goods sold in clothing stores, furniture stores, second-hand goods stores and mail-order houses) increased by 0.7 percent, while consumables (such as goods sold in department stores and specialised grocery stores, excluding Systembolaget) decreased by 0.5 percent.
Turnover in retail trade measured in current prices increased by 2.3 percent in August 2020 compared with August 2019. Sales in durables increased by 2.0 percent and retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget) increased by 1.9 percent.
In fixed prices, working-day and seasonally adjusted, retail trade decreased by 0.3 percent between July and August 2020. In the last three-month period (June-August), sales increased by 2.2 percent compared with the previous three-month period (March-May).
Definitions and explanations
Total retail trade here refers to NACE 47 excluding 47.3.
Trade in consumables (excluding Systembolaget) here refers to NACE 47.11 and 47.2. excluding 47.25.
Trade in durables here refers to NACE 47.19 and 47.4–47.9.
Revisions
When the Retail Trade Index is published for a new month, the indices for previous months are also revised if new information has been added. As from April 2015, a new method is used to calculate final statistics. The new method mainly involves using administrative data from the Swedish Tax Agency on a quarterly basis to increase the number of companies that are surveyed. This means that final quarterly statistics are based on a total tcalculation for all the companies in the frame population. Administrative data is used every quarter with the aim to improve the quality of the Retail Trade Index and decrease the response burden.
Usually, the material is revised between two and four months backwards, depending on where in the quarter the reference month is located. In connection with the publication of the first and second month in a quarter, the entire previous quarter is revised. The series, corrected for working day and seasonal effects and trend estimates, is always revised from January 1991 and forward.
Information about major revisions is published on the product page: Turnover in the service sector.
Next publishing will be
Data concerning September 2020 will be published on 28 October.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.