Retail sales in the Netherlands increased 4.4 percent year-on-year in March 2019, the most since April last year, accelerating from a 4.3 percent growth in the previous month. Sales of food went up at faster pace (4.1 percent vs 1.3 percent in February) while non-food trade slowed (2.6 percent vs 5.5 percent), particularly due to consumer electronics (1.1 percent vs 2.8 percent); drugstores (0.7 percent vs 1.9 percent); do-it-yourself items, kitchens, floors (7.8 percent vs 9.6 percent); furniture, home furnishings (5.1 percent vs 6.6 percent). Meantime, sales increased faster for both recreational goods (3.6 percent vs 1.6 percent) and shoes & leather goods (6.0 percent vs 5.8 percent). By contrast, sales of clothing fell (-0.4 percent vs 4.2 percent). Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands averaged 1.18 percent from 2005 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 9.30 percent in May of 2006 and a record low of -6.40 percent in August of 2009.
Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands is expected to be 1.60 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales YoY in Netherlands to stand at 2.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Netherlands Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 2.50 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.