Retail sales in the Netherlands increased by 1.7 percent year-on-year in September of 2018, slowing from a 3.4 percent gain in the previous month. It was the smallest annual gain in retail trade since March, as sales of non-food products fell (-0.9 percent vs 2.4 percent in August) while those of food products went up faster (3.7% vs 3.1%), namely sales of supermarket goods (4.1% vs 4%) and specialized shops (1.1% vs -3.3%). Within non-food products, retail trade declined for: clothing (-3.1% vs 3.2%); consumer electronics (-4.9% vs 3.1%); shoes and leather goods (-12.0% vs 2.2%), and recreational goods (-2.5% vs 4.4%). Meanwhile, sales went up more than a month earlier for both home furnishings (1% vs 0.2%) and do-it-yourself items, kitchens, floors (3.1% vs 0.2%). Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands averaged 1.12 percent from 2005 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 9.30 percent in May of 2006 and a record low of -6.40 percent in August of 2009.
Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands is expected to be 4.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands to stand at 2.38 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Netherlands Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 2.50 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.