Brazilian retail sales in September fell 1.9% compared to the same period last year and fell 2.4% compared to August, the sector’s worst performance of the year, according to a survey by payment methods company Stone released this Thursday. -fair.
The data came two days after rival Cielo indicated that retail sales last month fell 3.3% compared to a year earlier, discounting inflation.
According to figures from Stone, which calculates the sector’s performance on a monthly basis based on merchants accredited to its platform, the eight segments analyzed had a monthly drop, led by furniture and household appliances and books, newspapers, magazines and stationery, both with a drop of 3. 5%.
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“September’s result is the worst for retail in the year, being the second drop in the last four months,” said Matheus Calvelli, economic researcher and data scientist at Stone. “Thus, although there is a generalized decrease, the volatility of recent months makes expectations for the remainder of the year still uncertain,” he added.
In the third quarter as a whole, retail sales fell 0.9% compared to the immediately previous three months, according to data from Stone. Compared to the third quarter of 2023, there was 1% growth in sales.
In the quarterly comparison, only two of the eight sectors calculated by the company showed positive performance in the months from July to September: fuels and lubricants (2.6%) and fabrics, clothing and footwear (0.8%).
On the other hand, the sector of “other articles for personal and domestic use” fell by 2%, followed by pharmaceutical articles (-1.8%), books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (-1.3%), hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (-0.9%), furniture and household appliances (-0.6%) and construction material (-0.5%).
