Turnover in retail trade, February 2022
Retail sales volume decreased in February 2022
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2022-03-30 8.00
The retail sales volume decreased by 0.1 percent in February compared with January. Retail sales in durables increased by 0.2 percent while retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget, the state-owned chain of liquor stores) decreased by 1.1 percent. These figures are working-day and seasonally adjusted and in fixed prices.
Even though total retail sales declined slightly, there are some signs of recovery after the pandemic. One of the industries with the largest growth in February is in specialized stores which has been suffering during the pandemic. The industry is now back at higher index levels compared to, for example, non-specialized stores which has been stable throughout the whole period, says Lovisa Hertzman, economist at Statistics Sweden.
In the last three-month period (December-February), sales volumes in working-day and seasonally adjusted figures decreased by 0.8 percent compared with the previous three-month period (September-November). Retail sales in durables decreased by 0.8 percent while retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget) increased by 0.7 percent.
In February, the year-on-year growth rate in the volume of retail sales was 2.9 percent in working-day adjusted figures. Retail sales in durables increased by 2.8 percent and retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget) increased by 3.4 percent. The change in fixed prices without a working-day adjustment is the same as above since the working-day adjustment has no effect on the growth rate in February 2022.
Turnover in retail trade measured in current prices increased by 5.6 percent in February 2022 compared with February 2021. Retail sales in durables increased by 5.0 percent and retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget) increased by 7.5 percent.
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 the 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 calculation 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 March 1991 and forward.
Information about major revisions is published on the product page: Turnover in the service sector.
Next publishing will be
Statistics concerning March 2022 will be published on 28 April 2022.
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.