The retail trade in Germany achieved record sales in the Corona year 2021 despite the restrictions to combat the pandemic. Thanks mainly to the booming online trade, sales rose overall after an initial estimate adjusted for price increases (real) by around 0.9 percent and nominally by 3.1 percent compared to 2020, the year with the highest turnover to date, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.
Losses in the textile trade
The results for the months of January to November 2021, however, indicated that parts of the stationary retail trade, for example with textiles, clothing, shoes and leather goods, also had to accept sales losses in the second Corona year, explained the Wiesbaden authority.
In July, the German Retail Association (HDE) predicted a nominal increase in sales of 1.5 percent to a good 586 billion euros for the whole year for retail in the narrower sense, which does not include pharmacies, for example.
At the start of the important Christmas business in November, retail sales rose slightly compared to the same month last year when calendar and seasonally adjusted, but in real terms they fell by 2.9 percent. According to the authorities, the reasons for the real decline in sales could be delivery bottlenecks and the sharp rise in retail prices. (dpa)