BERLIN, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Adjusted by inflation, turnover in Germany's retail sector grew by 4 percent year on year in April 2019, according to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) published on Friday.
Although turnover in April fell by 2 percent compared to last month, German retail turnover between January and April 2019 was still up 3 percent, on the same period of the previous year.
The clothing, shoes and leather business was the only sector in Germany where turnover decreased both year on year as well as compared to last month, according to Destatis.
Turnover in the textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods business in Germany fell by 6.1 percent compared to last month and 1.9 percent year on year.
Part of this negative trend is caused by growing online business with fashion. In Germany, "around one quarter of all online turnover is generated by fashion products," a spokesperson of the umbrella organization of German retail (HDE) told Xinhua on Friday.
According to the Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry, the clothing industry can "partially compensate for the slight decline in domestic retail sales through strong exports."
Across all sectors, the timing of Easter had a "positive effect" on the development of the retail sector's turnover in Germany in April. In 2018, the busy Easter business had largely fallen into in March which increased the numbers for March but saw less retail business in April.
Profiting from the Easter business, retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco products showcased the highest growth numbers and went up 8.2 percent in real terms.
Sales at German supermarkets even increased by 9.0 percent in real terms. Compared to April 2018, the German retail sector specialized on food and beverages achieved a real increase in sales of 1.7 percent.
