Swiss Retail Sales, April: -1.4 percent Nominal and -1.2 percent Real

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George Dorgan
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The Used Goods Question

Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall or they remain steady for years.

In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so that used goods do not lose their value so quickly. Hence used goods have higher economic value in these countries than in others.

From the press release:

Neuchâtel, 01.06.2017 (FSO) – Turnover in the retail sector fell by 1.4% in nominal terms in April 2017 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 2.3% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 1.2% in April 2017 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes inflation into consideration. Compared with the previous month, real, seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover registered a decline of 2.4%. Retail sector excluding service stations Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 1.7% decrease in nominal turnover in April 2017 compared with April 2016 (in real terms -1.4%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a decline in nominal turnover of 0.6% (in real terms -0.8%), whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal negative of 3.0% (in real terms -1.6%). Excluding service stations, the retail sector showed a seasonally adjusted decline in nominal turnover of 2.4% compared with the previous month (in real terms -2.6%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a nominal minus of 1.0% (in real terms -1.1%). The non-food sector showed a minus of 1.9% (in real terms -2.6%).

Switzerland Retail Sales YoY, April 2017 (see more posts on Switzerland Retail Sales, ) Source: Investing.com - Click to enlarge

Download press release: Retail trade turnover in April 2017