Sale in December

However, in many ways December 2020 was different from usual Decembers. Restrictions and closure of certain activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic caused reduction in consumption. Compared to December 2019, turnover in retail trade in December 2020 decreased by 8.3%. Decrease in turnover compared to previous December happened for the first time in seven years.

Only food stores’ turnover up compared to December 2019

Compared to December 2019, only food stores’ turnover went slightly up in December 2020, while in all other major retail trade activities turnover went down. Recreational goods stores and stores with textile and footwear reported the lowest December turnover in the last ten years and for the first time in this period lower December turnover than monthly average of the year. Moreover, turnover in textile and footwear stores in Slovenia in December 2020 decreased compared to December 2019 the most in the EU. Furniture stores also reported the lowest December turnover in the last ten years, and electronic and household appliance stores the lowest in the last five years.

Online sale growth

In most retail trade activities, part of turnover shifted to the activity of online retail trade. Turnover in retail sale via mail order houses or via the Internet in December 2020 grew by 77.7% compared to December 2019. However, these data apply only for companies registered in the activity of online retail trade and not for the whole online retail trade.

This activity has shown a noticeable upward trend in recent years, but in the “COVID” year of 2020 it accelerated even further. It is also characteristic of online retail trade that turnover is the highest at the end of the year. In December 2020, turnover was by 60.6% higher than the monthly average of 2020.

There is a visible upward trend of this activity in other European countries as well and the same as in Slovenia there is a significant increase in turnover at the end of the year, in November and December. Compared to December 2019, all the countries except Croatia reported higher turnover in December 2020.

Growth of online sale accelerated growth of postal and courier activity

Postal and courier activity is another activity that usually records the highest turnover at the end of the year. In the last ten years, December was the month with the highest turnover nine times. Turnover in December 2020 was by 37.6% higher than the monthly average of 2020.

Growth of online sale also caused acceleration of turnover growth of postal and courier activity. While in December 2019 turnover grew by 4.6% compared to December 2018, in December 2020 it grew by 26.0% compared to December 2019.

There was a similar movement of turnover in other European countries. All of those that reported the data to Eurostat recorded the highest turnover in the last quarters of both 2019 and 2020. As in Slovenia, in all other countries, turnover in the last quarter of 2020 grew compared to the last quarter of 2019.

Not so merry December

In December, there are usually many open-air public events such as concerts, parties and events for children. Many visitors also come to see festive lighting. This is why in December in the largest Slovenian towns, Ljubljana and Maribor, there are more domestic tourists with at least one overnight stay than in other months. However, in December 2020, this was not the case due to partial lockdown and especially limitation of movement to citizens’ residential municipalities. Compared to monthly average of 2020, there were 81.1% fewer domestic tourists in Ljubljana and 89.9% fewer in Maribor. In addition, compared to December 2019, there were 92.2% fewer domestic tourists in Ljubljana and 94.5% fewer in Maribor.

Restrictions in performing activities and reduction of tourist visits also had an impact on the food and beverage service activities. In the past 20 Decembers, turnover in this activity was always higher than the monthly average of the same year. However, in December 2020 it was a lot lower, by 57.0%. Compared to December 2019, it decreased by 73.6%.

Import of most holiday goods lower than a year earlier

Sale of some products linked to holidays and celebration increases considerably in December. As shown in the graph, import of the majority of these products in the last quarter of 2020 decreased compared to the last quarter of 2019.