Informations Rapides · 31 August 2021 · n° 229

In June 2021, sales volume in trade kept growing Sales volume in wholesale and retail trade - June 2021

In June 2021, the volume of sales in trade sped up (+3.9%) following the rebound initiated in May (+2.0%) after the lockdown was lifted.

In June 2021, the volume of sales in wholesale trade started to grow again markedly (+5.3%), while it had been stable since June 2020 at a level close to that before the health crisis. All the sub-sectors contributed to this growth, particularly the household goods (+6.3% after +1.3%), the wholesale on a fee or contract basis (+8.1% after −0.6%) as well as food, beverages and tobacco (+7.1% after +1.9%).

The volume of sales in retail trade slowed down in June (+1.6%) after the sharp recovery in May (+7.0%) due to the reopening of all stores. Very impacted by the health restrictions and especially by the successive lockdowns, the retail trade had however maintained an upward trend since the end of the first lockdown. The volume of sales kept rebounding in specialised stores (+5.9% after +15.4%), while it decreased again slightly in non-specialised stores (−1.2% after −0.8%) and tumbled in retail trade not in stores (−9.8% after −1.7% in May). Within specialised stores, the volume of sales recovered in all sub-sectors, except for food, beverages and tobacco (−1.8% after −0.4%). The growth was particularly marked in "other goods" (clothing, footwear, leather goods, etc.: +6.3% after +20.8%), in other household equipment (furniture, appliances, hardware, etc.: +7.8% after +7.8%) and cultural and recreation goods (+13.3% after +34.7%).

In June, the volume of sales bounced back in the trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (+3.4% after −0.9% in May), particularly in the sale of motor vehicles (+4.0% after −1.7%).

According to early estimates, the sales volume in retail trade except that of motor vehicles and motorcycles is expected to have decreased by 0.6% in July 2021. From May to July, it should have increased by 7.9% when compared with that of the same period one year earlier, with a base effect due to the first lockdown in spring 2020.

Owing to a base effect due to the first lockdown from March to May 2020, the volume of sales of the second quarter of 2021 in overall trade increased by 20.0% when compared with that of the second quarter of 2020. It grew sharply in wholesale trade (+16.8%), in retail trade (+17.0%), and in the trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (+45.4%). Within retail trade, the volume of sales increased over a year in all the sub-sectors: in specialised stores (+24.0%), in non-specialised stores (+7.1%), and in retail trade not in stores (+21.5%).

The percentage change in the overall sales volume trade in May 2021 has been revised slightly upwards, at +2.0% instead of +1.8% initially published.