Eurostat, which is the European Union’s statistics office, noted Friday that retail sales in the 19 countries fell by 2.3 percent in July compared to the month before. Retail sales were still 3.1 percent higher than in July 2020, however. Sales for the month of June were revised to a rise of 1.8 percent from 1.5 percent month-on-month and to 5.4 percent from 5 percent year-on-year.
Economists had expected a 0.1 percent increase, a 4.8 percent year-on-year increase, according to Reuters.
Online and mail-order sales saw the sharpest decline in the month of July, declining by 7.3 percent. Meanwhile, sales of automotive fuel reportedly dropped by 1.6 percent and food sales were down 0.7 percent on the month.
That being said, retail sales numbers are still up against July 2020, with online sales 11.2 percent higher, automotive fuel sales o0.6 percent higher and food sales 1.1 percent higher.
