Press release No. 212 of 3 May 2021
Retail turnover, March 2021 (provisional)
+7.7% on the previous month (in real terms, calendar and seasonally adjusted)
+7.4% on the previous month (in nominal terms, calendar and seasonally adjusted)
+11.0% on the same month a year earlier (in real terms)
+12.3% on the same month a year earlier (in nominal terms)
WIESBADEN – According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the real (price-adjusted) turnover of all retail enterprises in Germany was 7.7% higher and the nominal (not price-adjusted) turnover was 7.4% higher, on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, in March 2021 than in February 2021. This was the second-strongest month-on-month increase in turnover, both in real and in nominal terms, since restrictions had been imposed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic in Germany. In March 2021, the calendar and seasonally adjusted real turnover increased by 4.4% compared with the pre-crisis month of February 2020.
Without calendar and seasonal adjustment, retail turnover in March 2021 increased by 11.0% in real terms and by 12.3% in nominal terms compared with March 2020. This was the strongest year-on-year increase in turnover, both in real and in nominal terms, recorded since the beginning of the time series in 1994. With a total of 27 trading days, however, March 2021 had one more trading day compared to March 2020.
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial and economic crisis
Retail turnover also forms part of the “Crises monitor“ (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The Crises monitor complements the "Corona statistics" webpage (www.destatis.de/corona), which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
