Overview of the Austrian retail market
A challenging environment for retail
The recovery of the Austrian retail market is proceeding very slowly. Growth has been limited by economic weak- ness, rising unemployment and the long-drawn-out decline in inflation. In spite of the increase in purchasing power and positive development of the tourism sector, the market remains challenging.
A glimpse at the Austrian retail market can provide equally good reasons for seeing the glass as either half full or half empty. The optimistic viewpoint is supported by the consumer climate – the most important indicator for the retail trade which aggrega- tes the key influencing factors – which has
months in 2024 was roughly ten per cent above the previous year, and the forecasts for growth have already been revised downward several times.
and services like fitness are outperforming the retail trade. These trends led to an inflation-adjusted decline of 0.8 per cent in retail turnover during the first half of 2024. The traditionally very stable food trade delivered a negative surprise with a drop into the negative zone at minus 0.1 per cent, while the non-food segment was an even higher 2.2 per cent in minus. The difficulties throughout the branch are also reflected in bankruptcy statistics. The number of bankruptcy filings reached the highest level in 15 years during the first half of 2024. More than one-fourth of the cases were attributable to the retail trade, which captured the disappointing first place ahead of the construction sector. The Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO) does not expect any improvement before spring 2025 at the least, also in this area. But there are several rays of hope: One clearly positive aspect for brick and mortar retail is, for example, that the trend towards the migration of turnover to online compe-
Economic researchers now expect zero growth in 2024 and a weak 1.5 per cent
recently risen signifi- cantly from its historic low more than two years ago. According to the media digest issued by the ACSP, the Austrian
Growth has been negatively in- fluenced by economic weakness, rising unemployment, the slow decline in inflationary pressure and a change in consumer behaviour.
Council of Shopping Places, the consumer climate index improved from a disastrous minus 34 percentage points in July 2022 to minus 13 percentage points and is now only slightly lower than the minus eight per cent before the sharp rise in prices. The “half empty“ viewpoint, in contrast, reflects the sluggish pace of the recovery and numerous economic developments that point towards a continuation of the tense situation. The unemployment rate for most
increase in 2025 as well as an average of only 1.25 per cent for the years from 2024 to 2028. Inflation has proven to be persistent, which raises fears that interest rates will only decline at a leisurely pace. Another important factor is the gradual shift in consumer behaviour. Vacation spending, in particular, is gaining at the expense of conventional retail turnover,
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Retail Market Report
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