In August 2025, Switzerland experienced a 0.2% decline in retail sales compared to the previous year. This downturn came after July's revised increase of 0.9% and fell short of the anticipated 0.5% growth. Notably, this marks the first drop in retail sales since June 2024, largely due to a decrease in cultural and recreational goods sales, which fell by 0.9% compared to a 2.6% rise in July. Additionally, there was a continued decline in sales of food, beverages, and tobacco, which decreased by 1.1%, compared to a 0.8% contraction previously.
Growth in other sectors also slowed. Non-food products saw a deceleration to 1.9% from 3.4%, information and communication equipment slowed to 15.6% from 19.9%, and household equipment and furniture dropped to 2.3% from 5.7%. Moreover, online and mail-order sales growth decreased to 0.8% from 2.9%, and other goods growth fell to 0.5% from 1.3%. Conversely, service stations experienced a stronger growth rate, climbing to 3% from 1.6%.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade decreased by 0.2% in August, following a downwardly revised fall of 0.4% in July. When fuel sales are excluded, retail activity remained unchanged from the same period the previous year, after posting a 1.3% rise in July.
