Italy’s retail sales up 1.7% in January

March 08, 2023

Abstract : Inflation still affects Italian consumers, especially food goods which plummeted 4.4% compared to January 2022, as reported by Istat

MILAN, Mar 8 (Class Editori) — High prices continue to affect the habits of Italians, to the extent that there is no sign of stopping the drop in purchases in parallel with the increase, however, in spending.

In fact, retail sales in volume fell in January (-2.4%), while they grew in value compared to the same month in 2022 (+6.2%). As in the November 2022-January 2023 quarter, purchases increased in value (+1.5%) and declined in volume (-0.5%) compared to the previous quarter. On a monthly bases, however, retails sales were up both in value (+1.7%) and volume (+1.2%). This is the general picture taken by Istat.

Italians buy fewer and fewer food goods

To go into detail, compared with December 2022, the positive trend in retail sales is recorded for both food (+2.2% in value and +1.9% in volume) and non-food goods (+1.4% in value and +0.7% in volume).

Widening the time horizon, however, the dynamics between the two sectors are more uneven. On a quarterly basis, both the increase in value (+1.7%) and decrease in volume (-0.8%) of food goods are slightly higher than those for non-food goods (+1.2% in value and -0.2% in volume).

At the trend level, however, it can be seen that Italians reduced their purchase of food goods in particular (-4.4%) while non-food sales were downsized by not even 1%. In addition, the value of retail sales grew year-on-year especially for large retailers (+8.2%) and businesses operating on small areas (+4.3%), but also for e-commerce (+3%).

Decreasing inflation is just an optical illusion

These data “confirm that the drop in inflation recorded in the last period is only an optical illusion due to the reduction in energy tariffs, while retail prices continue to remain at very high levels affecting Italians’ spending,” Codacons President Carlo Rienzi concluded.

In fact, families continue to have to spend more to buy less and less, and the glaring proof comes from food, a sector where sales in January plummeted by 4.4% in volume against an increase in value of 7.5%. Therefore, Italy needs “a change of course on the retail pricing front”.

(Source:Class Editori)

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