According to the report from Federal Statistical Office (FSO), turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 6.2% in nominal terms in March 2020 compared with the previous year.

Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 6.0% compared with the previous month. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, turnover slumped markedly in some sectors.

Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays fell in the retail sector by 5.6% in March 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 6.2%.

Adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 4.5% decrease in nominal turnover in March 2020 compared with March 2019 (in real terms -4.0%). This resulted in reductions in turnover for service stations of 26% (in real terms -21.6%).

Retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered an increase in both nominal and real turnover of 8.4%, whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal minus of 15.8% (in real terms -15.0%).