Statistics Explained

Archive:Non-specialised in-store retail trade statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived - for recent articles on structural business statistics see here.

Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), the present article covers non-specialised in-store retail trade, corresponding to NACE Groups 52.11 and 52.12, which are part of the retail trade and repair sector. Non-specialised retailers offer consumers the opportunity to buy a broader range of products at a sole point of purchase (for example, supermarkets, hypermarkets or convenience stores). The activities covered in this article are retail sales in non-specialised stores of:

  • food, beverages and tobacco (NACE Class 52.11);
  • non-food products (NACE Class 52.12), principally department stores that stock a general line of merchandise.
Table 1: Retail sale in non-specialized stores (NACE Group 52.1). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Table 2: Retail sale in non-specialized stores (NACE Group 52.1). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006

The EU-27's non-specialised in-store retailing sector (NACE Group 52.1) generated EUR 900 billion of turnover in 2006 and EUR 140 billion of value added while employing 6.2 million persons. As such, it accounted for 42.3 % of the turnover and 33.5 % of the value added created by retail trade and repair (NACE Division 52) in 2006, while some 35.3 % of the retail trade and repair workforce was concentrated in this sector. The non-specialised in-store retailing sector's workforce had a relatively high proportion of paid employees, 90.9 % in the EU-27, 11.2 % higher than the retail trade and repair average.

In total, almost 0.6 million enterprises were active in this sector, just 15.5 % of the retail trade and repair total, indicating a relatively large average size, particularly in turnover terms: in 2006, average turnover per enterprise in the EU-27's non-specialised in-store retailing sector was just over EUR 1.5 million, approximately two and a half times the average for retail trade and repair. With the exceptions of Bulgaria and Romania, in all Member States [1]the average turnover per enterprise was higher in the non-specialised in-store retailing sector than in the retail trade and repair sector as a whole. Luxembourg recorded the highest average turnover per enterprise (EUR 10.8 million). However, a comparison in relative terms showed French and Spanish non-specialised in-store retailers to be more than six times as large as the retail trade and repair average, while in Lithuania, Belgium and Luxembourg they were more than four times as large.

Turning to the two NACE classes that make up the sector, the wealth generated within non-specialised in-store retailing mainly came from retailers with food, beverages or tobacco predominating (NACE Class 52.11), with EUR 800 billion of turnover and EUR 110 billion of value added recorded in 2005, more than four fifths of the sectoral total in both cases. This subsector was dominant in all Member States [2]except for Slovakia, frequently generating more than four fifths of sectoral turnover.

The United Kingdom was by far the largest contributor to EU-27 value added and employment in the non-specialised in-store retailing sector, contributing more than one fifth of the EU-27 total for both of these measures; Germany and France were the only other Member States with 10 % of more of the EU-27 total. The dominance by the United Kingdom resulted in it being the third most specialised Member State [3]in this sector, in value added terms, as 3.2 % of its non-financial business economy value added was generated in the non-specialised in-store retailing sector, a share only surpassed in Slovenia and Lithuania. According to the same measure, the non-specialised in-store retailing sector was least developed in Bulgaria, where it contributed just 1.4 % (2005) of non-financial business economy value added.

Short-term statistics show that over the period 1998 to 2006 there was consecutive year on year growth in the volume of sales index for EU-27 non-specialised in-store retailing. This growth averaged 3.8 % per year, marginally above the retail trade and repair average of 3.6 % per year. Growth was faster in the subsector concerning non-specialised in-store retailing with food, beverages or tobacco predominating, where it averaged 4.4 % per year, more than double the rate (2.1 % per year) recorded for non-specialised in-store retailing with non-food products predominating.

Expenditure and productivity

The EU-27 retail sales in non-specialised stores sector was responsible for a large part of retail trade and repair gross tangible investment: the level of investment reached EUR 28.6 billion in 2006, close to half (46.7 %) of the retail trade and repair total. The resulting investment rate (investment as a percentage of value added) was 20.4 %, the highest rate among the retail trade and repair NACE groups, and the only one of these to register an investment rate above the non-financial business economy average (18.4 %).

An analysis of expenditure in the EU-27 shows that personnel costs accounted for around 11.1 % of operating expenditure in this sector, slightly below the retail trade and repair average (12.3 %). The share of personnel costs was notably higher for non-specialised in-store retailing with non-food products predominating (15.9 %).

The apparent labour productivity ratio of the EU-27's non-specialised in-store retailing sector in 2006 was EUR 22.7 thousand per person employed, while average personnel costs were EUR 17.8 thousand per employee, resulting in a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 127.3 %. These figures were all similar to, but slightly lower than, those recorded for retail trade and repair as a whole. The subsector concerning non-specialised in-store retailing with non-food products predominating recorded a higher wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, 140.0 % in 2005, whereas in the larger subsector with food, beverage and tobacco products predominating the ratio was 126.0 %. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for non-specialised in-store retailing in 2006 ranged among the Member States [4]from below 100 % in Italy (97.5 %) to 177.4 % in Slovakia.

Data sources and availability

The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.

Context

Retailing is typically the final stage of distribution between producers and consumers. Since the development of the Internet, there has been an increasing use of commerce via the web. As such, there has been a gradual shift from traditional methods of purchasing from stores or markets to purchasing remotely. According to Eurostat’s information society statistics, some 12 % of the turnover of distributive trades (including motor trades (NACE Division 50) and wholesale trades (NACE Division 51), as well as retail trade and repair) enterprises with ten or more persons employed was derived from e-commerce in 2008. According to the same source, one quarter of the EU-27’s population ordered or bought goods or services for private use through the Internet in 2008 (during the three months preceding the survey). Note that these figures refer to goods and services supplied to individuals by all sectors of the economy, not just enterprises that are specialised in retail sales.

In October 2008, the European Commission put forward a proposal COM(2008) 614 for a Directive on consumer rights, to try to make purchases easier and safer, whether in-store or not. The proposal covers the provision of price information, protection against late delivery and non delivery, as well as setting out rights on issues such as cooling-off periods, returns, refunds, repairs and guarantees and unfair contract term.

Non-specialised retailers offer consumers the opportunity to buy a broader range of products at a sole point of purchase (for example, supermarkets, hypermarkets or convenience stores). Large, non-specialised food retailers, in particular, may have greater price flexibility, as they are able to accept lower profit margins on certain products, as well as exerting greater purchasing power on their suppliers; furthermore, they may have their own integrated wholesale activities.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Other information

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria and Poland, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  2. ↑ Bulgaria and Poland, 2005; Denmark, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  3. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  4. ↑ Bulgaria and Poland, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
Retrieved from "https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Archive:Non-specialised_in-store_retail_trade_statistics_-_NACE_Rev._1.1&oldid=213917"