Retail turnover was 6.8% higher in November 2001 than in the same month in 2000. Provisional figures from Statistics Netherlands show that prices in the shops rose by 5% in the same period, bringing the volume increase in turnover to 1.7%. Consumers spent a total of 6.8 billion euro in retail outlets in November, an average of nearly 1,000 euro per household.
Turnover in food sector up by more than 9%
Supermarkets and specialist food shops increased turnover by 9.1% in November compared with twelve months previously. Prices of food products rose by less. In September prices were 8% higher than in the same month in 2000, in October 7.5% higher, while in November they had risen by 6.2%. Supermarkets, by far the largest branch in the food sector, realized an increase of more than 10% in turnover compared with November 2000.
Substantial turnover increase for chemists
Chemists again realized a large increase in turnover:11.5% more than in November 2000. In the longer term, too, this sector has had a relatively high growth rate. Over the first eleven months of 2001, growth was more than 9% compared with the same period last year. Shops
selling home furnishings and textile supermarkets also booked better than average results in the non-food sector. Clothes shops, stores selling consumer electronics and do-it-yourself outlets performed below average in non-food, while the lowest growth rates were for shops selling household goods (+1.9%).
(source: CBS)
