Trade
Drop of 0.4% in October retail sales indicates slow recovery
December 13, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: December 13, 2018 10h35 AM
In the second consecutive month of decline in the monthly comparison, the volume of retail sales fell 0.4% in October, in the seasonally adjusted series of the Monthly Survey of Trade, released today by the IBGE. The negative result confirms the slow recovery trend of the sector, which grew 1.9% in relation to October 2017 and maintained a high of 2.2% in the cumulative index of the year.
According to survey manager Isabella Nunes, the industry had a shortness of breath, with two monthly negative results in a row. "It's further from the highest result, which was in October 2014. None of these takes trade out of the recovery trend, but it is gradual. The industry practically repeated the result of the previous month."
The fall was widespread among the activities of trade. Of the eight surveyed activities, five were down compared to September: Fuels and Lubricants (-1.2%), Furniture and Household Appliances (-2.5%), Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (-7.4%) and Textiles, apparel and footwear (-2.0%).
Isabella goes over the reasons for this downward trend in sales and mentions the groups of fuel and books as some of the negative influences, although with distinct contributions to the sector's result: 10.7% and 0.5%, respectively. "Fuels have been affected by the systematic increase in prices, we can see this because there is an increase in revenues. Meanwhile, books accumulate a 15.7% drop in six months. This activity is losing breath due to the replacement of printed with electronic material, and also to the shutting down of physical stores," says the IBGE manager.
Black Friday, held on November 23, and its lower prices promises might also have been responsible for October setbacks in some of the trade categories surveyed.
"The group of fabric, wearing apparel and footwear fell 2% after four months of positive rates. Meanwhile, furniture and household appliances recorded -2.5% after two positive indices. These are activities that have a strong participation in the November promotions, this might be pointing out to postponement of consumption," analyzes Isabella.
In the extended retail trade, which includes Vehicles and Motorcycles and Construction Materials, the rate was -0.2%, favored by the good performance of these two categories. The former changed by 0.1%, while the latter rose by 1.3% in October.
