Volume of retail trade down by 0.1% in both the euro area and the EU

Overview

In March 2025, compared with February 2025, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume decreased by 0.1% in both the euro area and the EU, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In February 2025, retail trade volume grew by 0.2% in the euro area and remained stable in the EU.

In March 2025, compared with March 2024, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 1.5% in the euro area and by 1.4% in the EU.

Retail trade volume

Monthly comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in March 2025, compared with February 2025, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.1%,
decreased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.1%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.4%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.1%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.4%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Slovenia (-2.0%), Estonia (-1.3%) and Slovakia (-0.9%). The highest increases were observed in Malta (+2.0%), Belgium and Croatia (both +1.4%) and Bulgaria (+1.1%).

Annual comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in March 2025, compared with March 2024, the volume of retail trade

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.6%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 2.3%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.9%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.1%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 2.7%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.7%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Luxembourg (+9.4%), Bulgaria (+5.4%) and Cyprus (+5.0%). The largest decreases were observed in Slovakia (-2.9%), Poland (-1.8%) and Italy (-1.4%).

Tables

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area
Total retail trade	-0.3	0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.2	-0.1
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.0	0.0	-0.4	0.5	0.1	-0.1
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-0.6	-0.1	0.3	0.0	0.0	-0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.6	1.2	-0.4	0.2	0.4	0.4
EU
Total retail trade	0.0	0.0	-0.1	0.2	0.0	-0.1
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.1	-0.1	-0.3	0.4	0.0	-0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-0.2	-0.2	0.3	0.1	-0.1	0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.8	1.7	-0.8	0.4	1.4	0.4
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area	-0.3	0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.2	-0.1
EU	0.0	0.0	-0.1	0.2	0.0	-0.1
Belgium	-1.9	-2.4	1.3	-0.8	0.4	1.4
Bulgaria	0.7	1.6	0.4	-0.9	-1.6	1.1
Czechia	0.6	-0.1	1.2	-0.4	0.4	c
Denmark	0.4	0.1	0.5	-0.2	0.7	0.1
Germany	-0.1	0.3	-0.9	0.6	0.2	-0.2
Estonia	1.7	0.3	1.3	-0.9	2.1	-1.3
Ireland	-0.5	0.9	0.3	-1.5	1.5	0.3
Greece	-1.8	2.4	-2.7	1.1	1.6	c
Spain	0.0	-0.6	1.5	-1.3	1.3	-0.2
France	-0.4	0.3	-0.8	1.0	-0.3	-0.1
Croatia	0.6	0.7	0.6	-1.4	-0.9	1.4
Italy	-0.4	-0.3	0.3	-0.4	-0.1	-0.3
Cyprus	-1.1	2.3	0.0	-2.5	4.6	-0.5
Latvia	0.6	1.3	0.3	-1.2	-0.9	-0.2
Lithuania	0.9	1.6	0.7	-4.7	0.8	0.9
Luxembourg	-0.8	4.8	-8.1	6.4	0.2	1.0
Hungary	1.0	0.5	-1.1	2.2	-0.7	-0.5
Malta	0.5	0.5	1.1	-0.9	-0.8	2.0
Netherlands	-0.3	-0.1	0.4	1.2	-1.1	0.7
Austria	-0.1	0.6	0.0	-0.8	0.2	-0.4
Poland	2.3	-0.9	-0.6	0.8	-1.2	-0.6
Portugal	0.9	0.4	0.0	0.3	0.3	-0.5
Romania	0.9	0.0	-1.3	0.9	c	c
Slovenia	1.1	0.9	-1.7	2.1	1.1	-2.0
Slovakia	0.6	0.2	8.2	-9.4	-0.9	-0.9
Finland	0.2	-0.2	2.4	-1.7	0.1	0.1
Sweden	0.1	0.3	1.6	-0.1	-0.1	0.3
Norway	0.4	0.5	0.2	1.1	-0.1	0.6
Switzerland	0.2	0.1	0.5	1.1	-1.3	0.5
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area
Total retail trade	2.3	1.8	2.2	1.9	1.9	1.5
Food, drinks, tobacco	1.1	1.1	0.7	1.2	1.5	0.6
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	3.3	2.2	3.5	2.9	2.1	2.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	1.1	1.2	0.1	0.2	2.0	0.9
EU
Total retail trade	2.5	1.9	2.3	2.2	1.8	1.4
Food, drinks, tobacco	1.3	1.1	0.8	1.1	1.1	0.1
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	3.6	2.3	3.7	3.1	2.2	2.7
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.1	1.5	-0.2	0.3	2.2	1.7
* Calendar adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area	2.3	1.8	2.2	1.9	1.9	1.5
EU	2.5	1.9	2.3	2.2	1.8	1.4
Belgium	0.3	-2.9	-0.2	-0.3	0.0	1.0
Bulgaria	6.1	8.2	9.0	8.1	2.4	5.4
Czechia	5.1	4.1	6.4	3.2	3.9	c
Denmark	2.2	1.7	2.2	3.4	3.0	2.5
Germany	2.6	3.5	2.8	3.3	4.3	2.3
Estonia	-1.6	-0.2	1.1	2.8	5.2	1.2
Ireland	1.4	1.3	2.2	-1.6	2.2	2.3
Greece	-1.6	1.1	-5.3	2.3	4.6	c
Spain	3.7	0.9	4.5	2.0	3.8	3.5
France	2.9	2.1	1.5	2.5	1.3	1.9
Croatia	6.7	6.7	6.5	4.4	2.6	3.6
Italy	1.0	-0.8	1.4	-0.3	-1.1	-1.4
Cyprus	3.4	6.2	5.5	1.7	8.5	5.0
Latvia	0.4	3.5	3.5	1.3	-0.8	-0.7
Lithuania	6.5	7.7	8.7	2.4	2.1	0.1
Luxembourg	15.8	20.8	3.5	12.5	10.7	9.4
Hungary	3.5	4.1	0.0	4.6	3.3	0.4
Malta	4.0	4.7	7.4	3.9	-0.7	4.9
Netherlands	0.6	-0.2	0.5	1.4	-0.8	0.5
Austria	2.7	2.9	3.7	2.2	2.0	1.7
Poland	1.9	0.5	0.0	1.2	-1.5	-1.8
Portugal	5.1	5.2	5.1	5.0	4.4	3.9
Romania	10.2	8.7	6.1	2.7	c	c
Slovenia	-0.5	0.5	-2.1	2.9	4.6	-0.3
Slovakia	4.6	4.9	10.0	1.2	-1.5	-2.9
Finland	-2.7	-3.1	2.3	-1.0	-1.0	-1.3
Sweden	-1.0	1.5	4.2	3.8	0.2	3.2
Norway	-0.1	0.3	0.8	2.9	2.2	2.8
Switzerland	1.8	1.5	2.5	3.2	1.3	2.2
* Calendar adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar and seasonally adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area	101.4	101.5	101.4	101.4	101.6	101.5
EU	101.9	101.9	101.8	102.0	102.0	101.9
Belgium	93.4	91.2	92.4	91.7	92.1	93.4
Bulgaria	115.3	117.1	117.6	116.6	114.7	116.0
Czechia	96.9	96.8	98.0	97.6	98.0	c
Denmark	95.1	95.2	95.7	95.5	96.2	96.3
Germany	99.0	99.3	98.4	99.0	99.2	99.0
Estonia	91.8	92.1	93.3	92.5	94.4	93.2
Ireland	108.8	109.8	110.1	108.4	110.0	110.3
Greece	96.9	99.2	96.5	97.6	99.2	c
Spain	108.1	107.4	109.0	107.6	109.0	108.8
France	103.9	104.2	103.4	104.4	104.1	104.0
Croatia	114.5	115.3	116.0	114.4	113.4	115.0
Italy	98.0	97.7	98.0	97.6	97.5	97.2
Cyprus	115.3	118.0	118.0	115.0	120.3	119.7
Latvia	102.7	104.0	104.3	103.1	102.2	102.0
Lithuania	105.0	106.7	107.4	102.3	103.1	104.0
Luxembourg	124.2	130.1	119.6	127.2	127.5	128.8
Hungary	100.1	100.6	99.5	101.7	101.0	100.5
Malta	116.9	117.5	118.8	117.7	116.7	119.0
Netherlands	100.2	100.1	100.5	101.7	100.6	101.3
Austria	97.2	97.8	97.8	97.0	97.2	96.8
Poland	109.0	108.0	107.3	108.2	106.9	106.3
Portugal	111.5	112.0	112.0	112.3	112.6	112.0
Romania	118.4	118.4	116.9	117.9	c	c
Slovenia	98.8	99.7	98.0	100.1	101.2	99.2
Slovakia	103.6	103.8	112.3	101.7	100.8	99.9
Finland	91.2	91.0	93.2	91.6	91.7	91.8
Sweden	93.9	94.2	95.7	95.6	95.5	95.8
Norway	92.6	93.1	93.3	94.3	94.2	94.8
Switzerland	99.9	100.0	100.5	101.6	100.3	100.8
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Oct-24	Nov-24	Dec-24	Jan-25	Feb-25	Mar-25
Euro area	102.5	104.5	118.8	95.1	90.0	99.9
EU	103.1	105.2	118.8	94.9	90.1	100.4
Belgium	95.1	92.3	108.2	89.2	82.0	93.1
Bulgaria	117.7	123.7	130.5	107.7	99.9	111.3
Czechia	99.5	109.3	121.9	87.6	85.2	c
Denmark	93.2	102.4	111.1	86.3	83.3	93.5
Germany	100.8	106.5	110.0	91.2	89.0	101.0
Estonia	93.1	93.2	105.9	83.5	81.6	91.9
Ireland	102.5	128.7	161.7	91.6	101.9	101.2
Greece	96.5	99.4	105.1	87.8	93.2	c
Spain	107.5	107.1	127.5	106.1	95.5	104.9
France	104.3	105.3	125.3	100.3	92.1	102.0
Croatia	112.8	105.5	119.1	93.1	91.0	106.3
Italy	102.0	99.0	119.5	91.2	86.1	92.6
Cyprus	114.2	120.6	143.8	104.0	105.5	114.8
Latvia	101.2	101.6	119.0	92.5	87.3	100.0
Lithuania	106.9	106.1	122.4	92.5	88.5	101.8
Luxembourg	125.0	132.6	134.7	122.1	117.7	131.9
Hungary	103.5	105.5	117.7	89.1	87.7	98.7
Malta	118.3	125.6	135.2	104.6	98.0	113.3
Netherlands	100.9	104.6	111.2	97.1	88.4	101.0
Austria	99.6	99.0	112.1	88.7	87.4	98.4
Poland	112.8	108.7	122.3	98.6	95.3	109.7
Portugal	110.6	113.1	134.6	102.9	96.9	106.7
Romania	120.5	124.9	129.6	103.1	c	c
Slovenia	101.2	101.4	107.7	92.0	89.2	100.4
Slovakia	107.4	108.9	125.0	92.6	91.5	100.0
Finland	90.4	91.1	107.2	80.1	76.6	87.9
Sweden	93.3	99.0	107.1	84.5	80.6	93.9
Norway	90.8	101.2	109.0	85.3	79.4	90.7
Switzerland	99.7	107.3	120.9	95.7	88.8	101.9
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Notes for users

Revisions and timetable

Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release of 7 April 2025. The monthly percentage change for February 2025 has been revised from +0.3% to +0.2% in the euro area and from +0.2% to 0.0% in the EU. The annual percentage change has been revised from +2.3% to +1.9% in the euro area and from +2.0% to +1.8% in the EU.

Methods and definitions

The index of the volume of retail trade measures the evolution of the turnover in retail trade, adjusted for price changes (deflated), i.e. the evolution of the total amount of goods sold, based on data adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.

Seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA20) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.