Singapore's retail sales tracking leaves an undesirable discount

Singapore

THE tracking of retail sales in Singapore could be making a major discount: that of the growing volume of overseas online purchases by Singaporeans.

For data trackers, this suggests a significant gap in measuring consumer spending here.

At present, the monthly movements in retail sales are measured by the Department of Statistics' (DOS) retail sales index. Data is primarily obtained from its monthly retail sales survey, which covers about 4,060 establishments.

Changes in total sales are reflected regardless of how the transaction occurs - whether by cash o…