Insee Première · July 2021 · n° 1866

Business Picked up Again in Trade in Early 2021 Having Plummeted in 2020

In 2020, sales in France plummeted in the non-food retail sector and in the motor trade and repair sector as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis. These sectors were particularly hard hit by administrative closures, lockdowns and curfews. In the wholesale trade sector, sales fell in almost all sectors.

Conversely, sales of food rebounded. Business picked up in the non-store trade sector thanks to the increase in online sales.

In 2020, salaried employment in trade fell by 1.0%, but it remained more resilient than in the traded services sector, excluding temporary work (–2.4%).

During the first quarter of 2021, the volume of sales exceeded its level during the first quarter of 2019 in all commercial sectors.