The coronavirus has had a real impact on European retail: sales dropped 10.4 % in general, and even 21.3 % for non-food products in March alone.
10 % of turnover gone
The European retail sector saw its sales drop by 10.4 % in March (compared to February 2020). In the eurozone, retail turnover even fell by 11.2 %, the EU’s statistical office calculated. The lockdown measures, taken in response to the coronavirus crisis, have had a significant impact on retail – a sector that still showed slight growth in February: retail volume had increased by 0.6 % in the eurozone, and by half a percent in the whole EU.
Compared to a year earlier, retail sales in euro-area countries fell by 9.2 %, while across the EU as a whole, merchants sold 8.2 % less in March. However, there are big differences between sectors, which of course has everything to do with the compulsory closure of many shops and the restrictions on consumers’ movements.
Fashion sales nearly halved
The retail volume of non-food products in the eurozone fell by 21.7 % (compared to the same period last year), while sales of food, drink and tobacco grew by 8.3 %. The biggest blow hit fashion and shoe retailers: in a month’s time, the European fashion industry saw almost half of its turnover disappear (- 40 % compared to February 2020 and – 41.6 % compared to March 2019).
In Germany and Belgium, retail turnover in March fell by 3.1 % compared to last year, which was slightly better than the United Kingdom (- 4 %). Of the member states for which data are available, the largest annual decreases in total retail volume were recorded in France (- 16.0 %), Slovenia (- 15.1 %) and Bulgaria (- 14.6 %). It is noteworthy, however, that there was also growth in Hungary (3.5 %), Romania (3.1 %) and Ireland (3.0 %).
