Singapore’s retail sales increased 8.7 percent in March 2022 on a year-on-year basis, a reversal from the 3.5 percent decrease in February 2022, the Department of Statistics Singapore announced on 5th May.
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Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales rose 13.4 percent, a reversal from the 1.9 percent decline in February 2022. The year-on-year increase in retail sales in March 2022 was partly attributed to larger growths in categories such as computer & telecommunications equipment, apparel & footwear and cosmetics, toiletries & medical goods. On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales increased 7.5 percent in March 2022 over the previous month. Excluding motor vehicles, seasonally adjusted retail sales increased 8.3 percent compared to February 2022.
The estimated total retail sales value in March 2022 was SGD 3.9 billion (USD 2.8 billion). Of this, online retail sales made up an estimated 14.9 percent, higher than the 13.5 percent recorded in February 2022. The higher online retail sales proportion was attributed to more online sales recorded during promotional events in March 2022. Excluding motor vehicles, the total retail sales value was about SGD 3.3 billion (USD 2.3 billion), where online retail sales made up 17.4 percent. Online retail sales of the Computer & Telecommunications Equipment, Furniture & Household Equipment and Supermarkets & Hypermarkets industries made up 51.0 percent, 33.6 percent and 16.2 percent of the total sales of their respective industries.
Within the retail trade sector, most industries recorded year-on-year growths in sales in March 2022. The computer & telecommunications equipment industry recorded a year-on-year increase of 27.3 percent, partly attributed to new product launches. Similarly, sales of apparel & footwear and cosmetics, toiletries & medical goods increased 25.8 percent and 25.2 percent respectively, due to higher demand for bags & footwear and pharmaceutical & medical products. In contrast, sales of motor vehicles and optical goods & books fell 14.1 percent and 8.2 percent respectively during this period.
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On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, all retail industries recorded growths in sales in March 2022, with larger growths reported by the computer & telecommunications equipment (28.2 percent), department stores (18.5 percent) and wearing apparel & footwear (18.0 percent) industries.