Singapore’s retail sales for the month of April have expanded by 12.1% y-o-y to $3.7 billion.
Of the total sum, the number of sales made online stood at 12.5%, down from the 14.8% recorded in March, which saw more online promotional events.
The higher amount was due to the y-o-y growths in sales recorded in most industries, led by wearing apparel & footwear (46.6%), food & alcohol (35.6%) and department stores (31.6%).
The wearing apparel & footwear industry recorded a y-o-y increase due to higher demand for bags and footwear, partly boosted by higher tourist spending with the easing of border restrictions.
In contrast, sales of motor vehicles and mini-marts & convenience stores saw the highest declines at a respective -16.4% and -5.5% y-o-y.
Accordingly, the month of April registered a growth of 17.4% y-o-y excluding motor vehicles.
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On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, Singapore’s retail sales grew by 1.2% and 1.7% excluding motor vehicles.
Food and beverage sales
Sales of food and beverage services grew by 11.4% y-o-y and 5.2% m-o-m to a total sales value of $815 million.
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The double-digit growth was attributable to the easing of dine-in restrictions in April compared to April 2021.
Of the sum, 27.0% were made online.
Within the food & beverage services sector, all industries saw y-o-y growths in sales in April, led by food caterers which surged by 77.7%.
The surge was due mainly to higher demand for in-flight catering with the easing of international travel restrictions.
Similarly, sales of restaurants, fast food outlets as well as cafes, food courts & other eating places increased 17.2%, 3.3% and 3.3% respectively during this period.
