This is apparent from figures from Statistics Netherlands for the second quarter of 2022. Across the board, retail turnover grew by more than 3% in the months of April, May and June, but the volume also fell by more than 3%. Sales via the internet even decreased by 10% in the second quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2021. The turnover of retailers who only sell online decreased by 9% and among retailers who combine brick shops with an online store, the turnover decreased by 11 % slightly larger.
Due to the strong inflation, turnover in food stores grew by almost 3%, while the volume sold fell by more than 5%. Supermarket sales grew 2.5% while customers bought 5.6% less products. Specialty stores performed slightly better with a higher turnover growth (3.4%) and less volume loss (-4.3%) than at the supermarkets.
Differ
There are strong differences among the shops that sell non-food products. The total volume of products sold increased slightly in the second quarter (a meager plus of 0.4%), but turnover increased by almost 6% due to higher prices. The differences are striking. Clothing stores (16.8% more volume, 19.5% more turnover) shoe stores (11.2% more volume, 16% more turnover) and drugstores (6.2% more volume, 9.2% more turnover) are doing a lot better than hardware stores, furniture stores and sellers of white goods and consumer electronics.
It has been very quiet on the furniture boulevards. Sellers of furniture and home furnishings saw their turnover fall by 2.6%, while the volume sold has shrunk by no less than 13%. Higher prices keep the loss of turnover somewhat limited. This is also the picture at hardware stores and sellers of kitchens and floors, where turnover fell more than 3% after a drop in volume of almost 11%. Sellers of white goods (such as washing machines and dishwashers) and consumer electronics recorded almost 4% lower sales on a volume decline of 8.7%.
Bankruptcies
According to the CBS, the number of bankruptcies has increased again since the autumn of 2021. The 46 bankruptcies in the second quarter are 21% more than in the same period in 2021 (38 bankruptcies). That is still considerably less than before the corona pandemic, but entrepreneurs are pessimistic. In addition to the staff shortage that also affects the retail sector, a majority of the retailers interviewed by Statistics Netherlands expect inflation to be far from over.
The corona support has stopped and deferred taxes will be collected in October. In addition, there are real concerns about consumers’ ability to pay their bills for energy, fuel and groceries in the autumn. This also contributes to the negative sentiment in the shopping street.
Entrepreneurs are often called race optimists, but Statistics Netherlands now registers that 15% of shopkeepers expect the economic climate to deteriorate in the coming months. This makes them more pessimistic than in the previous eight quarters.