Singapore retail sales up 4.8% in July, surpassing expectations

Retail sales grew 4.8 per cent year on year in July, rising from June's revised 2.4 per cent increase, data from the Department of Statistics released on Sept 5 showed.

- Rosalind Ang

The rise was more than double the median estimate of 2.1 per cent growth from Bloomberg economists.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales grew 4.1 per cent, reversing from the 1.1 per cent decline posted in June. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales were up 3.8 per cent month on month, against June's 1.2 per cent fall.

The estimated total retail sales value in July was $4.2 billion.

Of this, an estimated 13.1 per cent were from online retail sales, compared with the 13.5 per cent recorded in June and the 12 per cent in July 2024.

Excluding motor vehicles, the total retail sales value was about $3.6 billion, of which 15.5 per cent were from online retail sales.

Online retail sales made up 54 per cent of the total sales of computer and telecommunications equipment, 32.8 per cent of furniture and household equipment sold, and 11.8 per cent of the total sales of the supermarket and hypermarket industries.