Why retail’s share of consumption is falling

Retail’s share of private consumption continues to fall as purchasing power increases: European consumers still spend a good one-third of their money in retail, although there are large regional differences.

Normalisation

Last year, consumers in the 27 EU countries still spent 33.9% of their spending in retail. Retail’s share of private consumption thus fell for the second year in a row. In 2023, EU citizens spent 0.5% less money on retail than the year before, despite an increase in purchasing power and retail sales of 5.5% respectively, figures from NielsenIQ and GfK show.