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October 20, 2023RETAIL TRADE, AUGUST 2023 Monthly (seasonally adjusted August 2023 vs July 2023)
In Nova Scotia retail trade increased 1.8% to $1,757 million. Nationally, retail trade decreased 0.1% to $66.1 billion. Four provinces reported monthly increases in retail trade led by Prince Edward Island. Six provinces reported declines led by Newfoundland and Labrador.
Year over year (August 2023 vs August 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade increased 2.5% over the last year. Nationally, retail trade was up 1.6%. Six provinces reported year-over-year increases in retail trade. Prince Edward Island reported the largest gain, and Saskatchewan the largest decline.
Year to date (January-August 2023 vs January-August 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade was up 3.8% year-to-date. Nationally, retail trade increased 2.1% with all provinces reporting increases. Ontario reported the smallest gain and Prince Edward Island reported the largest gain.
Nova Scotia Retail Categories
In dollar terms, motor vehicles/parts ($3.410 billion), food/beverage ($2.793 billion), gas stations ($2.052 billion) and general merchandise stores contributed the most to year-to-date sales. The largest year-to-date increases in percentage terms were reported in health/personal care and miscellaneous retail categories. Gas stations, electronics/appliances, and building materials/garden supplies, sports/books/hobbies/music stores and furniture stores recorded year-to-date 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 growth.
E-Commerce
In August 2023, Canada's ecommerce sales decreased 2.0% over the previous month to $3.864 billion, or to 5.8% of total retail sales. Year-to-date ecommerce sales is 5.7% of total year-to-date 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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