Retail sales up 6.7% to $4.4b in December 2021

Excluding motor vehicles, an 8.6% YoY jump to $3.9b was observed.

Sales in the retail industry saw a 6.7% increase to achieve an estimated total of $4.4b in sales for the month of December 2021. 

According to the Department of Statistics Singapore, this was higher compared to 2.2% in November 2021. Without the inclusion of motor vehicles, retail sales rose by 8.6%, or $3.9b, more than the 4.5% growth observed in the previous month. 

Month-on-month (MoM), retail sales were up by 2.3% in December 2021, whilst with the exception of motor vehicles, retail sales increased by 2% MoM compared to the previous month.

Making up 16.3% of the estimated total retail sales value of $4.4b were online retail sales. The value was lower than the previous month’s 17.1%, due to online shopping events. 

Sectors that contributed the most throughout the month were the watches and jewellery and the petrol service station industries. These recorded YoY growths of 27.4% and 23.6%, respectively. Petrol’s performance, in particular, was attributed to higher petrol prices. 

A similar performance was seen as well in the cosmetics, toiletries and medical goods, wearing apparel and footwear and department stores industries, as these logged in increases of 17%, 16.8%, and 13%, respectively.

On the other hand, sales of motor vehicles and optical goods and books dipped by 7.2% and 5% in the period, respectively,

Meanwhile, MoM, all industries, save for furniture and household equipment and supermarkets and hypermarkets, recorded growths in sales. These two sectors saw dips of 7.9% and 2.1%, respectively. 

Top growers, MoM, include department stores, optical goods, and books, and food and alcohol industries, at growths of 9.7%, 8.3%, and 8%, respectively.