Retail Business Cycle Report

Once a quarter, the Retail Business Cycle Report compiles key economic information for the retail trade and trade as a whole. Ongoing economic monitoring and reporting is highly relevant to provide retailers and the interested public with up-to-date data and analyses. The current report shows that, against the backdrop of a gradually emerging stabilisation of the economy as a whole, the sentiment indicators for retailers are also slowly improving. While assessments of the current situation recently clouded the picture again slightly in January, business expectations have remained positive in recent months. However, business in the retail sector was again subdued at the end of the year, resulting in a real decline in turnover of 3.4 percent for the year as a whole. In the current year, the trend is likely to be better. As a result of the expected increase in real disposable household income, consumer demand from private households is expected to rise again. This is also indicated by forward-looking consumer surveys.