Statistics Explained

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

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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-store retail trade, corresponding to NACE Group 52.6, which is part of the retail trade and repair sector. The activities covered in this article are retail sales made via:

  • stalls;
  • markets;
  • door-to-door sales;
  • remote sales made via:
    • mail order;
    • mobile sales;
    • vending machines;
    • the Internet;
    • home shopping channels.

This article does not include retail enterprises that also use remote-selling, but not as their principal activity.

Table 1: Retail sale not in stores (NACE Group 52.6). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Figure 1: Retailing not in stores (NACE Group 52.6). Breakdown of turnover, 2006 (%) (1)
Table 2: Retail sale not in stores (NACE Group 52.6). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006

Retail sales not in-stores (NACE Group 52.6) was the main activity of an estimated 540.0 thousand enterprises, which generated EUR 100 billion of turnover in the EU-27 in 2006, representing 4.4 % of the turnover within the retail trade and repair sector (NACE Division 52). EU-27 value added was EUR 19 billion, or 4.5 % of the retail trade and repair total and there were an estimated 920.0 thousand persons employed, equivalent to 5.3 % of the retail trade and repair workforce. Of this workforce, just 49.5 % were paid employees: this was the lowest share of paid employees of all of the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy (with 2005 or 2006 data available).

Across the three NACE classes that make up retail sales not in stores, retail sales via mail order houses (NACE Class 52.61) was the largest activity in terms of turnover in 2005 with just over half the sectoral total. In contrast, retail sales via stalls and markets (NACE Class 52.62) had the smallest share of sectoral turnover. The activity of retail sales via mail order houses was relatively important in turnover terms in several of the larger Member States (France, Germany and the United Kingdom), as well as the Nordic Member States, and most of all Austria.

Among the Member States [1], Germany contributed more than one quarter of the EU-27’s turnover and value added, and the United Kingdom also had a relatively high share for these two indicators, more than one fifth. Both of these larger Member States figured among the most specialised in value added terms, behind Greece and Lithuania.

Expenditure and productivity

Gross tangible investment in the EU-27's retail trade not in stores sector was EUR 2 billion in 2006, 3.3 % of the retail trade and repair total. The investment rate was 10.5 % and therefore 4.1 percentage points lower than the retail trade and repair average.

An analysis of expenditure shows that this sector had the highest share (90.3 %) of purchases of goods and services in operating expenditure among the retail trade and repair activities presented in articles on the sub-sectors of the retail trade and repair sector. The correspondingly low share dedicated to personnel costs can to a large extent be explained by the very low share of paid employees within the workforce. This characteristic of the sector may also account to some extent for the low wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio: for retail sales not in stores this was 96.9 % in the EU-27 in 2006, reflecting a level of apparent labour productivity (EUR 20.7 thousand per person employed) that was insufficient to cover the average personnel costs (EUR 21.3 thousand). The activity of retail sales not in stores was the only NACE group within the whole of the non-financial business economy where this ratio was below parity (100 %) for the EU-27 in 2006.

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.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Other information

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Poland, 2005; Malta, not available.
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