Domestic Trade Records Real Sales Increase
In the first six months of 2025, domestic trade recorded a real sales growth of 0.5 percent for the first time since the second half of 2021. "This is good news, but we are still not out of the woods," said WKÖ trade chairman Rainer Trefelik. The outlook for the second half of the year is marked by uncertainties.
Retail records strongest sales increase
The retail sector achieved the strongest sales growth, with a 1.6 percent increase after accounting for price developments. The automotive industry - data is only available for the months of January to May - was also clearly positive with a 1.1 percent increase. Meanwhile, wholesale remained in the declining range with a minus of 0.4 percent - also up to and including May 2025.
In the retail sectors, the jewelry and book trade each suffered a real sales decline of more than ten percent. The jewelry industry is currently confronted with the development of gold prices, noted Peter Voithofer from the Institute for Austria's Economy (iföw). Gold recently cost almost 30 percent more than at the beginning of the year. The situation is different in the shoe industry, where a real sales increase of 7.5 percent was recorded. "However, the shoe trade has had very mixed years," the trade researcher cautioned.
Despite the shift towards positive numbers, the domestic retail sector lags behind in the EU comparison. Austria ranks 17th in retail development, once again below the EU average. "We are not European champions here," Voithofer titled the ranking.
Decline in employment numbers in domestic trade
There is certainly no talk of a positive development in employment numbers. In the first half of the year, 1.6 percent fewer people were employed in trade than in the previous year. Thus, the sector currently counts almost 558,000 employees. Only in the automotive industry was a minimal increase in employment recorded. Within retail, it was primarily the food and shoe sectors that now employ more people than before.
Not only individual employees had to leave the sector, but companies have also disappeared from shopping streets. "The difficult years naturally leave their mark," explained Voithofer. This is reflected, among other things, in insolvencies, which reached a new high of 604 in the first half of this year. In the previous period, there were 557.
(APA/Red)
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