In the first seven months of the year, retail sales grew by 6.4 percent.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin German retailers started the second half of the year better than expected. Their sales grew by 2.4 percent in July compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. Adjusted for inflation (real), there was also an increase of 1.9 percent.
Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had only expected stagnation here. The food retail trade contributed to the unexpectedly good performance, increasing by 2.1 percent in real terms. It thus recovered somewhat from the slump in sales of the previous three months.
The recovery in retail was also driven by internet and mail order business. There, price-adjusted sales in July rose by 9.2 percent compared to the previous month and were thus a good 5 percent above the same period in July 2021. In June of this year, online and mail order business had suffered a severe slump.
“The joy about the surprisingly good result should not last long,” said the chief economist at Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbank, Alexander Krüger. “That doesn’t change the fact that consumption is on the decline. With the sharp rise in inflation and the gas levy, consumers will continue to get a grip.” Consumers are also threatened with real income losses in 2023.
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In the first seven months of the year, retail sales grew by 6.4 percent. Adjusted for inflation, however, it fell by 0.1 percent. “The difference between the nominal and real results reflects the high price increases in retail,” the statisticians explained the divergent development.
Despite the good start to the second half of the year, the prospects for the industry are poor. The energy crisis and inflation in Germany are currently pushing consumer sentiment to a record low.
The barometer of the GfK market researchers in Nuremberg signals a surprisingly sharp drop of 5.6 points to minus 36.5 points for September: Since the start of the survey for Germany as a whole in 1991, no worse value has been measured. “The fear of significantly higher energy costs in the coming months is forcing many households to take precautions and put money aside for future energy bills,” said GfK consumer expert Rolf Bürkl.
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