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Archive:Specialised in-store food 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 specialised in-store food retail trade, corresponding to NACE Group 52.2, which is part of the retail trade and repair sector. The activities covered in this article are the retail sale in specialised stores of:

  • food;
  • beverages;
  • tobacco.
Table 1: Specialised in-store food retailing (NACE Group 52.2). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Figure 1: Specialised in-store food retailing (NACE Group 52.2). Relative weight within specialised in-store food retailing, EU-27, 2006 (%) (1).
Table 2: Specialised in-store food retailing (NACE Group 52.2). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006
Figure 2: Specialised in-store food retailing (NACE Group 52.2). Index of turnover, EU-27 (2000=100).
Table 3: Specialised in-store food retailing (NACE Group 52.2). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006

The EU-27’s specialised food retailing sector (NACE Group 52.2) consisted of 0.5 million enterprises in 2006 which generated EUR 130 billion of turnover and EUR 26 billion of value added. Therefore, specialised food retailing contributed 6.2 % of retail trade and repair (NACE Division 52) value added, while its contribution to retail trade and repair turnover was 5.7 %: both of these shares were well below the sector's 13.2 % share of the total number of enterprises in retail trade and repair, indicating a large number of relatively small (on average) enterprises in the specialised food retailing sector.

The specialised food retailing sector employed 1.45 million people in the EU-27, equivalent to 8.3 % of the retail trade and repair workforce. The share of employees in persons employed was 64.1 %, substantially below the retail trade and repair average (79.7 %), and in fact, the fifth lowest rate of all NACE groups within the non-financial business economy.

The largest subsector in the EU-27’s specialised food retailing sector was the retail sale of meat and meat products (NACE Class 52.22), which alone provided around one quarter of the total turnover, value added and employment.

Overall, specialised food retailing was particularly important in Spain and Italy, which had higher turnover, value added and employment than any other Member State. Unsurprisingly they were both among the most specialised of the Member States [1]in this sector, only behind Greece, where specialised food retailing contributed 1.3 % to the non-financial business economy in terms of value added.

Among the Member States [2]some individual subsections have a particular significance. The specialised retailing of beverages was important in Estonia, where it contributed more than three quarters of specialised food retailing turnover, slightly less than five times the EU-27 average. Specialised retailing of fruit and vegetables contributed nearly two fifths of Cypriot turnover in this sector, close to four times the EU-27 average, while in Austria specialised retailing of tobacco generated 63.7 % of the sector's turnover, 3.7 times as much as the EU-27 average.

Annualised short-term statistics show generally weak growth in turnover for the EU-27’s specialised food retailing sector over the period 1998 to 2007. Indeed, the index registered a negative rate of change in 2004 (-0.4 %) and only once, in 2001, did growth exceed 3 %. Over the whole period, the index averaged growth of 1.4 % per year, just over one third of the average rate (3.6 %) for retail trade and repair during the same period.

Expenditure and productivity

In 2006 specialised food retailing had a slightly lower than average (for retail trade and repair) investment rate in the EU-27, 12.6 %, resulting from investments valued at EUR 3.3 billion.

Personnel costs represented 11.4 % of the operating expenditure of specialised food retailers. The subsector of the retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery (NACE Class 52.24) recorded a much higher share of personnel costs, 23.7 %, twice the sectoral average. On the other hand, a particularly low share of personnel costs (in operating expenditure) was recorded for the retail sale of tobacco products and of beverages (NACE Classes 52.25 and 52.26), both sectors where the share of the purchases of goods and services may be inflated by consumption taxes.

EU-27 apparent labour productivity for the specialised food retailing sector was EUR 17.9 thousand per person employed in 2006, while average personnel costs were EUR 14.3 thousand per employee. Both values were particularly low: the productivity indicator was the seventh lowest of all non-financial business economy NACE groups, while average personnel costs were sixth lowest. Nevertheless the resulting wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for this sector was 125.4 % in 2006, only slightly below the retail trade and repair average (128.1 %). Among the NACE classes that compose the sector, particularly high apparent labour productivity was recorded for the retail sale of tobacco products (NACE Class 52.26), and despite higher than average personnel costs this subsector recorded the highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, 171.4 %.

Among the Member States [3], wage adjusted labour productivity ratios for specialised food retailing were below national non-financial business economy averages in all of the Member States in 2006, while in Greece and Hungary this ratio was below 100 %, indicating that apparent labour productivity was lower than average personnel costs.

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.

Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS).

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.

Food retailing specialists are generally small retail outlets that do not belong to national or international chains, for example, fruit and vegetable shops, bakers, butchers and fishmongers. Contrary to many non-food items, food is a typically inelastic good, which means that when prices rise, consumers generally do not cut back as much on the total quantity purchased, although price changes may influence the choice of brand or retailer chosen by individual customers.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Other information

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  2. ↑ Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Poland, 2005; Ireland, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden, incomplete; Malta, not available.
  3. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
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