Retail sales in the Czech Republic increased by 4.7% year-on-year in May 2026, beating market expectations of a 3.3% rise and accelerating from a downwardly revised 0.8% gain in April. Sales grew for both food, beverages and tobacco (2.9% vs -1.2% in April) and non-food products (7.4% vs 4.7%).
Within non-food retail, turnover rose particularly strongly in clothing and footwear (15.7% vs 0.3%), other retail sales in non-specialised stores (7.8% vs 5.2%), other goods in specialised stores (7.3% vs 3.2%), cultural and recreation goods (6.5% vs 0.4%), and mail-order and internet sales (11.6% vs 10.6%).
By contrast, sales of information and communication equipment declined further (-5.4% vs -1.1%), while automotive fuel sales remained weak despite some improvement (-0.8% vs -7.8%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail activity rose by 1.3% in May, rebounding from a revised 1.2% decline in the previous month.
