Analytics, Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies, Retail

In May 2016, the turnover of retail trade enterprises was 557.9 million euros.

The turnover of stores selling manufactured goods increased 13% compared to May 2015. Turnover increased in most economic activities. Only the turnover in non-specialised stores selling predominantly industrial goods (e.g. department stores) remained at the same level as in May 2015. Turnover increased the most in stores selling pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics, where sales increased by a fourth compared to the same month of the previous year. A higher than average increase in turnover occurred in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear (19% growth) and in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials (15% growth).

The turnover of grocery stores has been rather stable in recent months. In May, the turnover of these stores increased 5% compared to the same month of the previous year.

The turnover of enterprises engaging in the retail sales of automotive fuel increased 6% at constant prices compared to May 2015.

Compared to the previous month, in May, the turnover of retail trade enterprises increased 8% at constant prices. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, the growth was 1%. In the five months of 2016 (January–May), the turnover in retail trade enterprises increased 6% at constant prices compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

In 2016, to publish monthly statistics on retail trade, Statistics Estonia started to use only the VAT declaration data of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board and stopped data collection with the questionnaire “Turnover”. This will reduce the response burden of entrepreneurs and Statistics Estonia’s expenditure on data collection, and increase the use of administrative data. Due to the change in the data source, the monthly news release “Retail trade” will focus on the turnover of retail trade enterprises, instead of the retail sales of such enterprises. Statistics Estonia will continue publishing the retail sales indicator of retail trade enterprises on a quarterly and yearly basis. Statistics Estonia published the monthly summary in three working days.