Revenues in Retail 2024 Slightly Increased
The Christmas business developed favorably "despite all the pessimistic predictions."
The end of the year was particularly successful: In December 2024, sales revenues increased by 4.6 percent calendar-adjusted and by 3.1 percent in real terms. In November, an increase of 3.8 percent (real: 2.9 percent) was recorded.
Trade Association Chief: "Remarkable"
However, the consumer sentiment is currently cautious again, with people saving. "Domestic consumers are showing restraint despite increased real incomes," emphasized the managing director of the trade association, Rainer Will, in a statement. While the declining inflation positively affects consumer confidence, the rising unemployment rate dampens the willingness to spend. "Given the difficult general economic situation, the recently positive sales development in retail is remarkable."
The number of open positions in the domestic labor market has been significantly decreasing for months - in retail alone, the decline in December was 25 percent. However, there are still "9,339 open jobs in all regions of Austria, including the motor vehicle trade, that need to be filled immediately."
Improved Mood in Retail
The mood in retail has gradually improved since November, as shown by the current "Retail Economic Report" created by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo) on behalf of the Trade Association. However, consumer confidence has "noticeably cooled" in recent months - in January, according to the harmonized EU consumer climate indicator, it was at minus 19.2 points. In Germany, consumer sentiment also deteriorated recently, but was much milder at minus 11.9 points.
The industry is cautiously optimistic for the current year. "Expectations for 2025 are reserved, but there are definitely positive impulses," emphasized Wifo economist and study author Jürgen Bierbaumer. For 2025 and 2026, the institute expects moderate economic growth of 0.6 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. The annual inflation rate is expected to be 2.3 percent this year, after 2.9 percent in the previous year. In 2026, inflation is expected to further calm down to 2 percent.
Requests to Politics
The Trade Association's requests to politics: There is an urgent need for a debureaucratization initiative, an innovation initiative, a relief initiative, and an incentive initiative. The trade expects this from the next federal government to enable the 93,000 domestic trading companies and more than 700,000 employees "a positive future perspective."
(APA/Red)
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