Retail Sales for May 2020

Retail sales fell 52.1% in May 2020 from May 2019, compared to the 40.3% year-on-year decline recorded in Apr 2020. This was the lowest recorded decline since 1986 when growth rate data was first compiled. The lower sales were due mainly the Circuit Breaker measures that were in place for the month of May 2020. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 45.2% lower than the 32.5% in Apr 2020. Compared to the previous month, seasonally adjusted retail sales declined 21.5% in May 2020. Excluding motor vehicles, seasonally adjusted retail sales decreased 20.1%.

The estimated total retail sales value in May 2020 was about $1.8 billion. Of these, online retail sales made up an estimated 24.5%. Online retail sales of the Computer & Telecommunications Equipment, Furniture & Household Equipment and Supermarket & Hypermarkets industries made up 94.3%, 93.6% and 9.6% of the total sales of their respective industry.

Read more about the Retail Sales Index for May 2020 here.