Retail sales of non-food products, excluding fuel, fell 1.2 percent in the euro area in October from September, or double their decline in September, according to Eurostat. Such sales were off 3.5 percent from October 2011, more than twice the decline seen in September.
Total retail sales fell 1.2 percent across the 17-nation Eurozone and 1.1 percent across the 27-nation European Union from September. Declines were reported for Denmark, -1.6 percent; Germany, -2.8 percent; Spain, -1.2 percent; Austria, -0.2 percent; Finland, -3.0 percent; United Kingdom, -0.8 percent; Norway, -1.1 percent and Switzerland, -0.4 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, total retail sales declined 3.6 percent for the Eurozone and 2.4 percent for the European Union. Year-over-year declines by country were: Denmark, -3.1 percent; Germany -3.8 percent; Spain, -11.5 percent; Austria, -1.9 percent; and Finland, -1.5 percent.
