Retail trade increased by five per cent in 1998

Retailing increased by five per cent in volume and 7.3 per cent in value in 1998 compared with 1997. The price index for retail trade rose 2.8 per cent during the same period.

Retail trade in this context excludes motor vehicles and gasoline.

Of the main groups, the volume of retail trade increased the most in the group comprising clothing, footwear, electrical goods, furniture, books and building materials. The volume index in this main group rose 10.7 per cent in 1998. The volume of sales in stores selling pharmaceuticals, medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries increased 6.7 per cent. Sales of stores selling non-specialized goods rose 0.7 per cent, while the sales volume of specialized stores selling food, beverages and tobacco decreased 3.5 per cent. Non-store retail sales increased 6.4 per cent in volume from 1997 to 1998.

Electrical goods increased the most

The volume index for electrical household appliances, radios, television sets, cassettes and musical instruments rose 11.5 per cent in 1998. Textiles, which increased 10.6 per cent, was the only other subclass to show a volume growth above 10 per cent. The lowest volume growth among the subgroups in 1998 was 0.8 per cent in retail sales of non-specialized goods with food, beverages and tobacco predominating.

1.5 per cent growth in December

The volume of retail sales increased 1.5 per cent in December 1998 compared with the volume in December 1997. Retail sales of pharmaceuticals, medical gods, cosmetics and toiletries and non-store retail sales increased the most, by 9.2 and 8.5 per cent respectively. The volume of trade in non-specialized stores declined, however, by 3.6 per cent.

The seasonally adjusted volume index, which also makes corrections for the number of shopping days, was 110.4 per cent in December, down 2.7 per cent from November. The index climbed by 0.5 per cent compared with December 1997.

New Statistics
Index of retail sales, December 1998.
The statistics are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information contact: Solveig.Nygardseter@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 51 74, or Aud.Midtsundstad@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 31.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 6, 1999