German retail sales dips in March by 1.1pc

Frankfurt / AFP

German retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, declined in March, official data showed last week.
Retailers’ sales fell by 1.1 percent in March compared with February, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
The previous month, retail sales had remained unchanged.
On a 12-month basis however, business increased, edging up by 0.7 percent in March compared with the same month last year, the statisticians calculated.
The data appear to be at odds with the findings of a leading consumer sentiment survey, published by the GfK market research institute earlier this week, which found that consumer confidence is on the rise again as households feel that economic recovery will gather pace in the coming months.
However, the Euromonitor International report stated that retailing in Germany will continue to show stable value growth.
“Despite the continued euro crisis, geopolitical tensions and wars in Eastern Ukraine and the Middle East, the refugee crisis, as well as the stock exchange crisis in China, retailing in Germany continued to show healthy value growth in 2015. This was very much driven by low unemployment and rising annual disposable incomes,” said the Euromonitor report.
It added, “The most dynamic channel continued to be internet retailing. Within internet retailing, mobile internet retailing saw further growth in popularity, providing a boost to sales. Store-based retailing also proved to be resilient and stable, with modern grocery retailers and non-grocery specialists both demonstrating healthy value growth.”