Italy’s retail sales were unchanged month-on-month in April 2026, undershooting market expectations for a 0.2% increase and marking a slowdown from the 0.8% rise recorded in March. Growth in sales of food products moderated to 0.2% from 0.9% in the previous month, while sales of non-food products declined by 0.2% after a 0.7% gain in March.
On a yearly basis, retail sales rose by 1.6% in April, easing from an upwardly revised eleven-month high of 3.8% in March. The deceleration reflected weaker sales growth in both food (0.6% vs 4.3%) and non-food products (2.6% vs 3.3%). Within the non-food segment, sales increased across nearly all product categories, with the exception of games, toys, sports, and camping goods, which fell by 0.8%. The strongest annual increase was recorded in pharmaceutical products, up 5.2%.
By distribution channel, the value of retail sales rose sharply in e-commerce (8.4%) and in small retail outlets (2.3%). More moderate increases were seen in out-of-store trade (1.3%) and large-scale distribution (0.7%).
