Istat conducted the monthly retail grocery sales report to provide an early estimate of monthly sales by kind of business for retail food stores located in Italy. Consumers these days rely increasingly on supermarkets for their food purchases. While other channels saw their sales dwindle, supermarkets and discounters actually posted growth.
According to the data collected in the latest report, supermarkets and discounts marked a good performance. In June 2015, they increased food sales respectively up to +2,3% and +4,5%, while hypermarkets decreased (-1,2%). Referring to the kind of business operating in the large distribution sector, sales for June 2015 were up 1,4% for non specialized stores and 2,4% for specialized stores. Total sales increased up to 1% over the same period of the previous year.
Retail sales is considered a coincident indicator, in that activity reflects the current state of the food industry. Generally speaking, retail sales data are very closely watched by both economists and investors, using consumer spending as a market indicator. Indeed, consumer expenditures generally make up about two-third of total gross domestic product of the country.