Retail sales grew 17.5% in January

Retail sales grew 17.5% in January, compared to the same month last year, and even registered an increase of 10.8% compared to the same month of 2020, before the start of the pandemic, according to a report by the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME).
In this sense, the annual growth at constant prices was explained by the boost provided by the tourist season in the country, says CAME, while compared to December, sales marked a fall of 26.8%, but due to the seasonality of these months.

Thus, January was “an active month for businesses located in tourist cities, where large sales were registered in products such as clothing, footwear, sportswear, toys, food and beverages or perfumeries, and the highest rates of variation were the cities of the south of the country, which last year received very few tourists and this season reversed that situation, “- Explained.
However, they pointed out that “with respect to the profits obtained, only 41.5% of the businessmen consulted defined them as good or very good”, and pointed out that “what most complicated trade were the price increases, especially in the food and beverage sector”.

In this area, sales reflected in January an increase of 12.5% per year, “stimulated by the tourist season and the greater predisposition to social gatherings”, although they fell 13%, at constant prices, in the monthly comparison.
From the SME Retail Sales Index prepared monthly by CAME, it also emerges that, in comparison with January 2020, food and beverage sales rose 10.2%. Meanwhile, in the case of household appliances, electronics, computers, cell phones and accessories, sales increased 3.6% year-on-year and fell 12.2% month-on-month; and in the area of lingerie and accessories, they increased 35.2% per year. The most important increases occurred in shops on the Argentine Coast, Cordoba, Patagonia and Misiones, where holiday consumption was decisive.
The survey also noted that this is the first January in six years in which the annual sale of these products rises.

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Original source in Spanish