In March, the sales of retail stores in Mexico increased 0.4% compared to February, marking eight months of growth and three months of exceeding their comparable levels of 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data released yesterday by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (Inegi).
The advance represented, however, a slowdown compared to that observed in February (+1 percent). The rise reflected improvements in seven of the nine sales categories measured by the Inegi’s Monthly Survey of Commercial Companies (EMEC).
The highest was observed in the line of stationery and leisure items (+3.7%) and was followed by online and catalog sales (+3%), hardware (+2%) and household goods and electronic devices (+ 1.6 percent).
The setbacks were observed in the sections of clothing, accessories and footwear (-1.4%) and self-service and department stores (-0.1 percent).
Globally, retail sales have already recovered and are consolidated as one of the main supports for this year’s economic dynamics”, said Marcos Arias, an analyst at Grupo Financiero Monex, in a report. Since August of last year, retail sales have had uninterrupted monthly advances and since January of this year, the 24-month comparisons (valid to contrast sales levels with respect to the pre-pandemic environment) have been positive.
Considering seasonally adjusted figures, in March the indicator was 2.7% higher than that of the same month of 2019, while, when considering the first full quarter, the advance is 1.7% compared to January-March of that year.
uneven reactivation
However, this recovery has been markedly uneven, as only four of the nine sales and merchandise categories show positive balances compared to the first quarter of 2019.
At the head is the online and catalog sales sector, with a spectacular advance of 123.5%, followed by the branch of sales of health products (19.4%) –encouraged precisely by pandemic expenses–, by the hardware (+11.5 %) and by self-service and department stores (+8.9 percent).
The sectors with the greatest lags are stationery and entertainment (-11.5%), groceries (-11.1%), clothing, footwear and accessories (-10.6%), appliances and electronic devices (-5.2%) and motor vehicles, fuels and spare parts (-2.3 percent).