Johanna Linda Pihlak, analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that the decline in November's retail trade turnover was most affected by stores selling manufactured goods, as their turnover decreased by 12 percent on year.

"Turnover was down in most retail activities," Pihlak noted. "Only the turnover of pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics increased by 3 percent."

Among stores selling manufactured goods, the biggest decrease at 21 percent was registered in the turnover of stores selling via mail order or the internet. Turnover likewise fell by 17 percent in other specialized stores selling predominantly computers and their accessories, books, sports equipment, games, toys, etc., by 13 percent in stores selling textiles, clothing and footwear, by 10 percent in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials, by 9 percent in other non-specialized stores selling predominantly manufactured goods (i.e. department stores), and by 8 percent in stores selling second-hand goods and non-store retail sale (i.e. stalls, markets and direct sale).

On year, supermarket turnover also decreased by 2 percent, while the turnover of enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel fell by 11 percent.

Compared with October, the turnover of retail trade enterprises decreased by 1 percent. According to seasonally and working-day adjusted data, however, turnover in November remained steady on month.

In the first 11 months of 2023, overall retail trade enterprise turnover was down 8 percent on year.

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