BERLIN (Dow Jones)–Companies in most retail sectors rate their business situation worse, according to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. This emerges from the current Ifo survey. “Expectations for the coming months also remain cautious. The further slowdown in the economy is hitting retailers, who have recently been burdened by weak consumer demand,” said Ifo expert Patrick Höppner. However, there are improvements in delivery difficulties. In retail as a whole, fewer and fewer companies are affected by supply problems. In August it was 34.8 percent, after 36.6 percent in July.
However, when it comes to food and beverages, many retailers are still affected by delivery problems, at least in some cases, for some products. 73.2 percent reported this in August, after 69.9 percent in July. “Delivery problems due to price and condition disputes between manufacturers and dealers tend to decrease,” said Höppner. “In contrast, stalled collective bargaining has recently led to more strikes in the logistics of some retailers and thus to delivery problems.” According to the institute, over half of the car dealer companies were still affected by bottlenecks in August. For computers and software, electrical household appliances and consumer electronics, the share was still over a quarter.
Because of the deteriorating business situation in retail, companies have also cut employment in some sectors. The shortage of skilled workers in most sectors is no longer as big a problem as it was recently. Overall, 35.4 percent of retailers reported problems recruiting skilled workers in the third quarter, after 36.7 percent in the second quarter. It remains particularly pronounced in the clothing retail trade and in the retail trade of food and beverages.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2023 02:12 ET (06:12 GMT)