Singapore retail sales shrink 8.6% in February; F&B among hardest hit

SINGAPORE'S retail sales continued their downward slide in February, shrinking 8.6 per cent year on year due to the decline in tourist arrivals and lower domestic consumption as a result of the deepening coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Statistics on Friday.

Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 10.2 per cent year on year in February, compared to the 0.6 per cent growth in January. Overall retail sales fell 5.3 per cent year on year in January.

Total food and beverage (F&B) sales saw a contraction of 16.6 per cent in February, reversing the 9.1 per cent growth seen in January. 

The estimated total sales value reached S$3.1 billion in February, down from S$4.1 billion in January. February also saw online sales take up a larger proportion of total sales at 7.4 per cent, compared with 5.8 per cent the previous month.

The online sales proportion for supermarkets and hypermarkets grew to 8.5 per cent in February, up from 7.8 per cent the previous month.

For computer and telecommunications equipment, 30.4 per cent of sales in February came from online transactions, up from 25.9 per cent the previous month. Within the furniture and household equipment category, online sales comprised 14 per cent of all sales in February, up from January's 10.9 per cent.

The online sales proportion for F&B also went up to 12.5 per cent from 9.8 per cent in January.

On the whole, while most categories in the industry saw a decline in sales, supermarkets and hypermarkets (15.5 per cent), furniture and household equipment (5.9 per cent), petrol service stations (3.9 per cent) and motor vehicles (1.3 per cent) were among the only ones that saw growth.

The wearing apparel and footwear category saw the biggest plunge at 41 per cent year on year. This is followed by the food and alcohol category, which shrank 40.5 per cent year on year. Department stores saw a year-on-year contraction of 36.3 per cent.