Retail sales rose 7.6% to $4.2b in January

It was buoyed by the 20% increase in motor vehicle sales.

Retail sales in Singapore increased 7.6% YoY and 0.2% MoM to $4.2b in January, according to data from the Department of Statistics (SingStat). Of the headline figure, 4.8% came from online retail sales.

The sales growth was buoyed by the 20% YoY increase in sales of motor vehicles. This was followed by sales increase in wearing and apparel footwear (10.5%), medical goods and toiletries (9.3%), department stores (8.9%), supermarkets and hypermarkets (8.8%), food retailers (8%), watches and jewellery (5.2%), minimarts and convenience stores (2.1%), furniture and household equipment (0.9%), recreational goods (0.9%), and petrol service stations (0.1%).

On the other hand, sales for computer and telco equipment as well as optical goods and books contracted 11.5% and 1.6%, respectively.

Meanwhile, F&B services sales rose 5.9% YoY to $862m. However, it was down 2.1% compared to the sales in December.
According to SingStat, fast food outlets saw the largest YoY growth in sales at 10.8%, followed by food caterers (8.1%), restaurants (7.5%), and other eating places (1.8%).