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Retail trade
Widespread declines in all sectors pushed retail sales down 5.4% in December to $33.0 billion. This was the largest monthly decline in over 15 years, exceeding the 4.5% sales drop in January 1998 when an ice storm crippled part of the country. Combined with the declines observed since October, retail sales in December were at their lowest level since November 2006.
In December, three-quarters of the overall retail decline stemmed from the automotive sector. Excluding the automotive sector (which includes new, used and recreational vehicle and parts dealers as well as gasoline stations), retail sales fell 1.8%.
In volume terms, retail sales fell 4.1%, mostly reflecting a large reduction in unit sales of motor vehicles at new car dealers.
Chart 1
The automotive sector posted, by far, the largest monthly decline in December, with sales falling 12.7%. The main contributor was a 15.1% sales decline at new car dealers. This reflects the largest monthly drop in the number of new motor vehicles sold since January 1998, according to the New Motor Vehicles Sales Survey.
Sales at gasoline stations fell 11.7% in December, and have dropped 28.8% since September 2008, largely reflecting falling prices at the pump.
In non-automotive retailing, the largest decline in December was in the building and outdoor home supplies stores sector, where sales fell 5.6%. Sales in this sector have been falling since September 2008 as housing has slumped.
Holiday shopping down in December
Significant monthly decreases were also registered in sectors traditionally associated with holiday shopping. Sales in the clothing and accessories stores sector fell 3.7% in December, continuing several months of declines. Sales at furniture, home furnishings and electronics stores and miscellaneous retailers (such as sporting goods and book stores) declined by more than 2%. General merchandise stores were affected to a lesser extent, as their sales fell 0.4%.
Note to readers
Total retail sales by volume are measured by deflating values in current dollars of the various trade groups using consumer price indexes. This retail sales in chained dollars series (2002) is a chain Fisher volume index with 2002 as the reference year.
At the end of each calendar year, seasonally adjusted monthly figures are revised to equal the sum of the unadjusted estimates. Revised seasonally adjusted figures are presented this month for September to November 2008. The complete revision of seasonally adjusted data for the 2008 calendar year will be released in April 2009. All current dollar annual comparisons in this release use the sum of unadjusted monthly estimates.
Retail sales down across the country
Retail sales fell by at least 3% in all provinces in December.
The largest decline among all provinces was a 6.2% sales drop in Alberta. Sales in this province have been generally weak throughout 2008 after reaching a plateau in 2007.
In Ontario, sales fell 6.0% in December. After a strong start in 2008, sales in Ontario flattened and have declined sharply since September 2008.
Saskatchewan's 5.8% sales decrease in December comes after a strong period of growth from the beginning of 2006 until mid-2008.
In British Columbia, December's drop of 5.6% brought sales to their lowest levels since February 2006.
Retail sales in 2008
In Canada, retail sales increased 3.2% to $425.3 billion in 2008, following gains of 5.8% in 2007 and 6.4% in 2006. The main contributor to this lower growth rate was sales at new car dealers, which fell 4.7%.
In volume terms, retail sales rose 2.9% in 2008, compared with 5.2% in 2007.
Table 1
| December 2007 | September 2008r | October 2008r | November 2008r | December 2008p | November to December 2008 | December 2007 to December 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||||
| Automotive | 12,376 | 12,456 | 12,207 | 11,314 | 9,878 | -12.7 | -20.2 |
| New car dealers | 6,473 | 6,107 | 6,067 | 5,861 | 4,976 | -15.1 | -23.1 |
| Used and recreational motor vehicle and parts dealers | 1,644 | 1,641 | 1,663 | 1,653 | 1,548 | -6.3 | -5.8 |
| Gasoline stations | 4,259 | 4,708 | 4,477 | 3,800 | 3,354 | -11.7 | -21.2 |
| Furniture, home furnishings and electronics stores | 2,496 | 2,630 | 2,546 | 2,539 | 2,472 | -2.6 | -1.0 |
| Furniture stores | 827 | 868 | 825 | 834 | 809 | -3.0 | -2.2 |
| Home furnishings stores | 503 | 520 | 497 | 480 | 455 | -5.2 | -9.5 |
| Computer and software stores | 114 | 115 | 116 | 110 | 102 | -7.3 | -10.6 |
| Home electronics and appliance stores | 1,052 | 1,127 | 1,107 | 1,115 | 1,105 | -0.8 | 5.1 |
| Building and outdoor home supplies stores | 2,229 | 2,280 | 2,263 | 2,255 | 2,129 | -5.6 | -4.5 |
| Home centres and hardware stores | 1,818 | 1,855 | 1,842 | 1,845 | 1,718 | -6.8 | -5.5 |
| Specialized building materials and garden stores | 411 | 424 | 421 | 411 | 410 | -0.1 | -0.2 |
| Food and beverage stores | 7,759 | 8,074 | 8,101 | 8,153 | 8,072 | -1.0 | 4.0 |
| Supermarkets | 5,566 | 5,828 | 5,874 | 5,893 | 5,863 | -0.5 | 5.3 |
| Convenience and specialty food stores | 835 | 839 | 839 | 846 | 829 | -2.0 | -0.6 |
| Beer, wine and liquor stores | 1,359 | 1,406 | 1,388 | 1,414 | 1,379 | -2.5 | 1.5 |
| Pharmacies and personal care stores | 2,393 | 2,451 | 2,464 | 2,459 | 2,437 | -0.9 | 1.8 |
| Clothing and accessories stores | 1,983 | 2,020 | 1,977 | 1,974 | 1,901 | -3.7 | -4.1 |
| Clothing stores | 1,513 | 1,548 | 1,513 | 1,519 | 1,468 | -3.4 | -3.0 |
| Shoe, clothing accessories and jewellery stores | 470 | 472 | 464 | 455 | 433 | -4.7 | -7.8 |
| General merchandise stores | 4,214 | 4,410 | 4,360 | 4,344 | 4,328 | -0.4 | 2.7 |
| Miscellaneous retailers | 1,797 | 1,819 | 1,806 | 1,814 | 1,770 | -2.4 | -1.5 |
| Sporting goods, hobby, music and book stores | 888 | 898 | 882 | 896 | 895 | -0.1 | 0.7 |
| Miscellaneous store retailers | 909 | 920 | 924 | 918 | 876 | -4.6 | -3.6 |
| Total retail sales | 35,248 | 36,140 | 35,722 | 34,853 | 32,988 | -5.4 | -6.4 |
| Total excluding new car dealers, used and recreational motor vehicle and parts dealers | 27,131 | 28,391 | 27,993 | 27,338 | 26,463 | -3.2 | -2.5 |
| Provinces and territories | |||||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 569 | 612 | 613 | 590 | 564 | -4.5 | -1.0 |
| Prince Edward Island | 138 | 146 | 144 | 142 | 136 | -4.5 | -1.7 |
| Nova Scotia | 978 | 1,055 | 1,024 | 995 | 951 | -4.4 | -2.7 |
| New Brunswick | 789 | 849 | 834 | 804 | 778 | -3.2 | -1.3 |
| Quebec | 7,682 | 8,194 | 8,035 | 7,900 | 7,553 | -4.4 | -1.7 |
| Ontario | 12,525 | 12,771 | 12,675 | 12,325 | 11,581 | -6.0 | -7.5 |
| Manitoba | 1,234 | 1,260 | 1,268 | 1,248 | 1,209 | -3.2 | -2.0 |
| Saskatchewan | 1,171 | 1,206 | 1,209 | 1,204 | 1,135 | -5.8 | -3.1 |
| Alberta | 5,209 | 5,144 | 5,103 | 4,988 | 4,680 | -6.2 | -10.2 |
| British Columbia | 4,826 | 4,774 | 4,686 | 4,533 | 4,279 | -5.6 | -11.3 |
| Yukon | 44 | 45 | 45 | 43 | 41 | -6.5 | -7.5 |
| Northwest Territories | 60 | 60 | 59 | 57 | 56 | -1.5 | -7.4 |
| Nunavut | 24 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 25 | -0.7 | 6.1 |
It is now possible to consult the tables of raw data by industry and by province and territory from the Tables by subject module of our website.
For information on related indicators, refer to the Latest statistics page on our website.
Available on CANSIM: tables 080-0014 to 080-0017.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 2406 and 2408.
The December 2008 issue of Retail Trade (63-005-XWE, free) will be available shortly.
Data on retail trade for January will be released on March 20.
For more information, or to order data, contact Client Services (613-951-3549; toll-free 1-877-421-3067; retailinfo@statcan.gc.ca). For analytical information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Lucy Chung (613-951-1903), Distributive Trades Division.
