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February 22, 2024RETAIL TRADE DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2023 Monthly (seasonally adjusted December vs November 2023)
In Nova Scotia retail trade increased 1.3% to $1,783 million. Nationally, retail trade decreased 0.9% to $67.3 billion. Eight of ten provinces reported monthly increases in retail trade led by British Columba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island reported the only substantial decline.
Year over year (December 2023 vs December 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade increased 1.8% over the last year. Nationally, retail trade was up 2.9%. Seven provinces reported year-over-year increases in retail trade. New Brunswick and British Columbia reported the largest gains, while Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Saskatchewan reported declines.
Annual (2023 vs 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade was up 2.9% from 2022 to 2023. Nationally, retail trade increased 2.2%. All provinces reported increases, led by Prince Edward Island. Ontario and Saskatchewan reported the smallest gains.
In dollar terms, motor vehicles/parts ($5.033 billion), food/beverage ($4.224 billion), gas stations ($3.039 billion) and general merchandise stores ($2.825 billion) contributed the most to Nova Scotia's annual sales in 2023.
The largest annual percentage increases were reported in health/personal care, miscellaneous retail and motor vehicles/parts categories. Gas stations, building materials/garden supplies stores and electronics and appliances recorded the annual declines.
Trends
In recent months, Nova Scotia retail sales have been more volatile than the Canadian average - which is common for a smaller province - but have kept pace with national retail sales trends.
Total retail sales for 2023 were $21.2 billion in Nova Scotia, an increase of $0.6 billion from 2022.
Annual growth in retail trade slowed to 2.9% in 2023, decelerating following post-pandemic rebounds in 2021 (+16.6%) and 2022 (+7.0%).
E-Commerce
In December 2023, Canada's e-commerce sales decreased 3.6% over the previous month to $3.72 billion, amounting to 5.5% of retail sales for the month.
For 2023 as a whole Canada's e-commerce sales were 5.7% of annual retail sales.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table: 20-10-0056-01, Monthly retail trade sales by province and territory (x 1,000)
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