Istat: retail sales increasing in August 2026

In August 2026, retail sales increased on July by 0.3% in value and 0.5% in volume. This was revealed by Istat, underlining that sales of food goods are growing (+0.8% in value and +0.5% in volume) while those of non-food goods are stationary in value and falling by 0.1% in volume. On a trend basis, in August 2026, retail sales recorded growth of 0.5% in value and a decline of 1% in volume.

Sales of food goods increased in value (+0.9%) and decreased in volume (-0.4%) as did those of non-food goods (+0.2% in value, -1.3% in volume).

In the first eight months of the year, retail sales recorded growth of 2.0% in value and 0.4% in volume compared to the same period in 2025. The data is very varied with a +10.5% in value for e-commerce, a +2.1% for large-scale distribution, a +1.1% for small shops and a +0.3% for sales outside of shops.

In August on a trend basis, businesses operating in small areas are especially suffering (-0.7% in value, -2.5% in volume) while large-scale retail trade is resisting (+1.1% in value, +0.1% in volume). Sales outside of stores collapse while e-commerce grows by 5.4% in value and 3.6% in volume.