Eurozone retail sales decline more than expected

(Sharecast News) - Retail sales across the eurozone dropped in September, marking the joint-steepest monthly decline in more than two years as consumer spending weakened across the currency bloc, according to figures released on Friday by Eurostat. Retail trade volumes dropped 0.7% month on month, significantly worse than the 0.1% decline expected by economists, reversing a 0.4% increase in August.

The contraction matched July's sharp fall, marking the steepest monthly declines since June 2024.

The monthly decline was driven by a 1.2% drop in sales of non-food products excluding automotive fuel, while sales of food, drinks and tobacco decreased by 0.3%.

Meanwhile, automotive fuel sales in specialised stores increased by 1.0%, partially offsetting the weakness elsewhere.

Among individual eurozone economies, Germany recorded the sharpest monthly contraction, with retail sales falling 2.0%, followed by Portugal (-0.9%) and the Netherlands (-0.7%).

France also reported a 0.6% decline, while Spain and Austria both registered falls of 0.4%.

At the other end of the scale, Luxembourg recorded the strongest monthly growth, with sales jumping 5.3%, followed by Slovakia (+2.2%) and Malta (+1.5%).

Despite September's monthly weakness, retail sales were still 0.4% higher than in September 2025, with annual growth remaining positive across several categories, with food, drinks and tobacco sales up 1.1% and non-food products excluding automotive fuel rising 0.7%. However, automotive fuel sales were 3.0% lower than a year earlier.