Singapore’s total retail sales value grew 6.6% y-o-y to $3.4 billion in September, according to data from the Department of Statistics (SingStat) released on Nov 5.
September’s figures mark a turnaround from the 2.8% y-o-y decline seen in August’s retail sales, the first decline since January.
The y-o-y increase in September was partly attributed to the computer & telecommunications industry, which saw higher mobile phone sales due to new product launches.
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) seasonally adjusted basis, September’s retail sales saw a 6.0% increase.
Excluding motor vehicles, total retail sales grew 8.3% y-o-y and 5.1% m-o-m to $2.9 billion.
On a y-o-y basis, most industries recorded growth in sales, led by the computer & telecommunications equipment sector, which surged 66.1% y-o-y.
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Petrol service stations, as well as watches & jewellery marked the second and third highest growth with y-o-y increases of 22.3% and 13.3% respectively.
Conversely, optical goods & books, mini-marts & convenience stores and recreational goods rounded up the top three declines in September, at -10.4% y-o-y, -6.0% y-o-y and -5.0% y-o-y respectively.
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M-o-m, most industries, again, saw growths in sales. This was also led by the computer & telecommunications equipment sector with a 23.8% m-o-m increase.
Cosmetics, toiletries and medical goods and wearing apparel & footwear saw the second and third highest growth m-o-m at 13.5% and 12.9% respectively.
Meanwhile, petrol service stations and mini-marts & convenience stores were the only one to register m-o-m declines at -1.8% and -0.1% respectively. Recreational goods and supermarkets & hypermarkets stood flat m-o-m.
During this period, online sales made up 15.2% of the total amount of retail sales. Excluding motor vehicles, the number stood at 18.0% out of the total amount.
Of the total amount of sales transacted online, computer & telecommunications equipment made up 53.7%, while furniture & household equipment, as well as supermarkets & hypermarkets represented 32.0% and 15.0% respectively.
Meanwhile, total food & beverage (F&B) sales rose 4.4% y-o-y and 12.1% m-o-m to $669 million in September.
This compares to the 6.7% y-o-y decline registered in August for the country’s total F&B sales.
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The higher m-o-m increase is attributed to the lower base in August, where there were stricter dine-in restrictions. Dining-in was suspended from Aug 1 to 9 and allowed for groups of up to five fully-vaccinated individuals only from Aug 10.
Of the total amount, some 34.5% of F&B sales were made online.
In September, most of the industries within the F&B sector saw y-o-y growths except restaurants, which saw a 5.2% y-o-y decline.
Food caterers saw the highest y-o-y growth at 36.4%, followed by fast food outlets (10.7%) and cafes, food courts & other eating places (8.4%).
M-o-m, all F&B sectors saw growths. This was led by restaurants, which increased by 27.7% in terms of sales, followed by cafes, food courts & eating places (5.7%), fast food outlets (3.4%) and food caterers (1.9%).
Photo: The Edge Singapore
