Spain: Retail sales crash at sharpest pace on record in April
Retail sales nosedived 31.5% year-on-year in April (March: -14.5% yoy) as stores were shut closed due to the nationwide lockdown. April’s result marked another record-breaking drop, after March had already posted the steepest fall on record.
Looking at the details of the release, April’s plunge was largely driven by a collapse in purchases at small chain stores. Furthermore, sales also plummeted at both single retail and department stores.
On a monthly, seasonally-and-working-day adjusted basis, retail sales declined 20.4% in April, following March’s 15.5% slump. The reading marked the worst result on record. Meanwhile, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of retail sales coming in at minus 1.3%, down from March’s plus 1.4%.