Danish Retail Sales Hit 10-Month Low

Retail sales in Denmark rose 3.8% year-on-year in May 2026, picking up from a ten-month low and an upwardly revised 1.4% increase in the previous month. Sales rebounded for supermarkets, department stores, and specialized grocery stores (3.2% vs -2.2% in April), while it increased at a faster pace for household equipment, furniture, and building materials (5.1% vs 2.4%) and cultural and leisure products (18.1% vs 17.4%). Meanwhile, trade continued to decline for liquid fuels and filling stations (-17.8% vs -14.7%). In addition, sales growth eased for consumer electronics (5.7% vs 15.1%), clothing, footwear, and jewelry (6.4% vs 10.6%), pharmacies and personal care products (3.3% vs 4.2%), and second-hand goods (13.2% vs 14.2%). On a monthly basis, retail sales rose 1.0%, rebounding from a 1.8% fall in April.

Retail sales in Denmark rose by 1.3% year-on-year in April 2026, reversing a from a downwardly revised 7.0% increase in the prior month. This marked the slowest growth since the contraction in June 2025, as sales slipped for both liquid fuel filling station (-13.4% vs -7.2% in March) and supermarkets, department stores and specialized grocery stores (-2.3% vs 4.2%). In addition, sales moderated for consumer electronics (14.9% vs 19.0%), household equipment, furniture, and building materials (2.6% vs 10.4%), pharmacies and personal care products (3.5% vs 9.7%), and second-hand goods (16.6% vs 19.1%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail activity fell by 1.8% in April, reversing an upwardly revised 2.8% rise in the previous month.

Retail sales in Denmark climbed 7.1% year-on-year in March 2026, accelerating from a downwardly revised eight-month low of 1.9% in the prior month. It marked the strongest growth since January 2022, as sales increased at a faster pace in supermarkets, department stores and specialized grocery stores (4.4% vs 0.5% in February), consumer electronics (19.1% vs 13%), household equipment, furniture, and building materials (10.5% vs 4.3%), clothing, footwear and jewelry (10% vs 3.6%), pharmacies and personal care products (10.5% vs 5.1%), and second-hand goods (22.2% vs 11.6%). In addition, trade rebounded in cultural and leisure products (12.9% vs -6%). Meanwhile, sales continued to decline for liquid fuel filling stations (-7% vs -2.5%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail activity rose 2.5%, rebounding from a downwardly revised 0.2% fall in February. Over the first quarter of 2026, retail sales growth eased to 0.9% from 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025.