Turnover in Swiss retail trade fell by around 20% in April

According to the report from Federal Statistical Office, turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 20.6% in nominal terms in April 2020 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 14.8% compared with the previous month. The sectors were affected to varying degrees. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 19.9% in April 2020 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 14.7%.

Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 19.5% decrease in nominal turnover in April 2020 compared with April 2019 (in real terms –19.0%). This resulted in a downturn of turnover for service stations of 33.8% (real –24.1%).

Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered an increase in nominal turnover of 4.0% (in real terms +3.5%), whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal decrease of 41.0% (in real terms –40.2%). 

Excluding service stations, the retail sector showed a seasonally adjusted decline in nominal turnover of 14.9% compared with the previous month (in real terms –14.8%). Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered a nominal minus of 4.5% (in real terms –5.0%). The non-food sector showed a minus of 28.0% (in real terms –27.6%).