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For the second consecutive month, retail sales in Canada went down by 1.1 per cent in January 2021, according a report release by Statistics Canada on Friday. Last month, Canadian retails sales had witnessed the largest ever decline since April 2020, which was the peak pandemic period across the world.
The report suggests that January sales were at C$ 52.5 billion, which represent only 39.4 per cent of the retail sales. The reason behind this decline is due to the forced restrictions such as social distancing due to the COVID-19 situation. Such measures have a direct impact on retail sales as footfall starts decreasing.
At some point in January, around 14 per cent of the retail stores stated they were closed for an average of three working days. The major affected retailers are those who sell clothes, furniture, accessories, books and music.
Here's what you need to know about this downtrend:
For the fourth consecutive month, retail sales were down at clothing and accessories stores. It plunged by 17.8 per cent, the highest among all retail segments.
©Kalkine Group 2020
After a drop of 7.1 per cent in December, the stores selling furniture and other related goods posted a decline of 15.1 per cent in retail sales.
Things looked down for retailers dealing with motor vehicles and spare parts. The decline continued for the third consecutive month, and fell by 1.4 per cent in January.
Some sectors show an uptrend
According to the report, some sectors also saw a rise. Sales at gasoline stations went up, rising for the second consecutive month. It went up by 0.9 per cent in January.
After a wait of four months, sales at new car dealers gained by 1.2 per cent.
Ever since the outbreak of coronavirus, ecommerce sales have boomed across the world. In Canada, online retail sales went up by a whopping 110.7 per cent (on an adjustable basis) in January.
