While turnover in December fell by 5 percent on year, this decline accelerated somewhat in January, Statistics Estonia analyst Johanna Linda Pihlak said according to a press release.

"The drop in retail trade turnover in January was most affected by stores selling manufactured goods, where turnover declined by 13 percent on year," Pihlak noted.

Among stores selling manufactured goods, turnover decreased the most – by 27 percent – in stores selling via mail order or the internet. Turnover was likewise down by 20 percent in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials, and by 16 percent in stores selling second-hand goods and non-store retail sale, i.e. stalls, markets and direct sale.

Turnover also fell by 9 percent each in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear as well as in other specialized stores selling predominantly computers and their accessories, books, sports equipment, games, toys, etc.; by 3 percent in other non-specialized stores selling predominantly manufactured goods, i.e. department stores, and by 1 percent in pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics.

On year, supermarket turnover decreased by 6 percent in the first month of 2024, while the turnover of enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel increased by 9 percent.

Compared with December 2023, retail trade turnover in Estonia was down 22 percent in January, marking the usual decline following the Christmas and New Year sales boom.

According to seasonally and working-day adjusted data, January turnover fell by 3 percent on month.

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