Clothing and footwear sales plummet
The Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index fell a record 6.4 points from 48.2 in March to a survey low of 41.8 in April. This signals the steepest monthly decline in sales since data were first collected in January 2004. Retailers blamed a combination of bad weather, the timing of Easter, poor consumer confidence, squeezed household budgets because of rising food and energy prices for the steep drop in sales at the start of the second quarter. In Italy, ongoing political uncertainty was an additional factor cited by retailers.
Sales fell across all three of the largest euro member states. Italian retail sales showed the largest fall of the three countries, with retail spending dropping at the fastest rate in the survey's history from 36.4 to 31.4. Italian sales have now fallen for fourteen straight months. German sales fell sharply, with the index dropping from 51.5 to 44.6. French retail sales showed the weakest decline of the three countries; nevertheless sales fell at the fastest monthly rate since January 2006 from 53.3 to 46.2.
Clothing and footwear sales suffered the most significant downturn, showing a survey-record rate of decline as sales of seasonal clothing were hit by cold weather and the early Easter.
