German Retail Sales Expected to Increase in 2020 Despite Coronavirus
September 22 2020 - 4:48AM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Martinez
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the German retail sector is
expected to record a 1.5% sales increase this year, mainly due to
strong growth in online shopping, German retail association HDE
said Tuesday.
In its latest forecast for 2020, HDE said sales will reach 552
billion euros ($651 billion) this year. In its July forecasts, the
association still expected a 4% drop in sales for the year.
HDE said that in 2020 price-adjusted sales will reach the
previous year's level. Following the reduction in value-added tax,
or VAT, "a clear process of recovery in the retail sector" has been
observed from the middle of the year onwards. According to HDE,
this process is still continuing today.
Online sales should increase 15% to EUR68 billion this year,
while stationary trade is stagnating, it said. The situation is
significantly worse in sectors that were affected by the temporary
lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, HDE said. This
sector is expected to record an 11% drop in sales this year to
around EUR21 billion, according to the forecast.
"The solid sales growth of 1.5% for the retail sector as a whole
shouldn't hide the fact that the existence of many companies and
jobs is still at risk," HDE's secretary general Stefan Genth said,
adding that the situation remains critical especially for many
clothing retailers in city centers.
A current HDE survey of 1,000 retailers from all sectors,
locations and company sizes shows that more than 90% of clothing
retailers reported a deterioration in the business situation for
the first half of 2020.
Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2020 05:33 ET (09:33 GMT)
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