Retail sales climb 3.6% YoY in April

Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales would have grown by 4.2% YoY.

Retail sales grew 3.6% YoY and 0.3% MoM in April, translating to a sales value of $3.9b.

Of the total sales value, 12.0% was from online sales.

Department of Statistics Singapore (Singstat) attributed the year-on-year uptick to increases in sales of most industries.

Industries which recorded a sales increase in April were Department Stores (+6.5% YoY); Food & Alcohol (+30.5% YoY); Cosmetics, Toiletries &  Medical Goods (+16.8% YoY);  Recreational Goods (+2.0% YoY); Optical Goods & Books (+8.6% YoY); Supermarkets & Hypermarkets (+0.6% YoY); Wearing Apparel & Footwear (+13.0% YoY); Watches & Jewellery (+4.8% YoY); Mini-marts & Convenience Stores (+6.9% YoY)

Excluding motor vehicles, whose sales dropped by 0.6% YoY and -9.4% MoM, total retail sales would have risen by 4.2% YoY and 1.5% MoM.

Other industries that saw year-on-year decline in sales were Petrol Service Stations (-14.2% YoY), Furniture & Household Equipment (-1.2% YoY), and Computer & Telecommunications Equipment (-0.1% YoY).