Catalonia leads the drop in sales and employment in retail during the summer
The sector invoices 3.6% less in July and employment falls 4.2% in full holiday season
BarcelonaCatalonia's businesses have led the drop in sales and employment across Spain this summer. In July, coinciding fully with the holiday season, the sector reduced its revenue by 3.6% and employment fell by 4.2% compared to the same period last year. The data presented this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE) are a complete anomaly within the retail trade sector: since 2020 – coinciding with a period of restrictions due to covid-19 – establishments had not registered a drop in sales during the month of July.
Catalan figures are widely different from the Spanish average, where revenue reduction was only 0.2%. Similarly, Catalonia was, along with Madrid, the only territory in Spain where employment fell during the peak summer campaign.
According to the INE, a large part of this decline is due to the evolution of activity at service stations. In a context marked by rising fuel prices and the elimination of the 10% VAT reduction on fuels, these types of establishments registered a 8.4% drop in sales across Spain.
By type of company, the data also identify small chains as the most affected. Specifically, smaller businesses suffered a 7.1% drop in revenue in July, a figure that contrasts with the 5.1% increase registered by large chains across the country.
Complaints in Barcelona
Precisely the Barcelona Oberta organization, which unites the different commercial hubs of the Catalan capital, lamented this week that it had detected a "generalized decrease" in visitor numbers and sales in shops during the summer. Beyond the factors linked to mobility, the entity attributed the decline to the works in the city and the resulting mobility and accessibility difficulties.
For its part, the association of Catalan family businesses in the retail sector – Comertia – pointed to another possible factor to explain the change. While the establishments of this organization had detected an improvement in sales in July, almost half of the businesses admitted that they would have invoiced more if it hadn't been for the heatwaves.