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January 19, 2024RETAIL TRADE NOVEMBER 2023 Monthly (seasonally adjusted November vs October 2023)
In Nova Scotia retail trade decreased 0.9% to $1,756 million. Nationally, retail trade decreased 0.2% to $66.6 billion. In percentage growth, five provinces reported monthly increases in retail trade led by Prince Edward Island. Saskatchewan reported the largest decline.
Year over year (November 2023 vs November 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade decreased 1.1% over the last year. Nationally, retail trade was up 1.8%. Seven provinces reported year-over-year increases in retail trade. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island reported the largest gains, and Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan reported the largest declines..
Year to date (January-November 2023 vs January-November 2022)
Nova Scotia retail trade was up 3.0% year-to-date. Nationally, retail trade increased 2.1% with all provinces reporting increases. Prince Edward Island reported the largest gain with Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia reporting the smallest gains.
In dollar terms, motor vehicles/parts ($4.378 billion), food/beverage ($3.722 billion), gas stations ($3.091 billion) and general merchandise stores ($2.367 billion) contributed the most to Nova Scotia's year-to-date sales. The largest year-to-date increases in percentage terms were reported in health/personal care, miscellaneous retail and motor vehicles/parts categories. Gas stations and building materials/garden supplies stores recorded the largest 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 November 2023, Canada's ecommerce sales decreased 1.5% over the previous month to $3.89 billion, or to 5.8% of total retail sales. Year-to-date ecommerce sales is 6.8% 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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