EconomyFinancialThe departmentals grow their sales, but are still 20%...

The departmentals grow their sales, but are still 20% below those of 2019

Department stores and supermarkets are making slow progress towards the recovery of their sales and although they managed to rebound in May, the levels are still below what they reported in 2019, before the pandemic.

In May, the sales of the stores with more than a year in operation of the chains affiliated to the National Association of Self-service and Department Stores (ANTAD) grew 33.9%. Considering the new stores, the increase was 36.5%.

“It is important to highlight that the percentage growth this month is interpreted distorted, as a consequence of the arithmetic effect of measuring against a very low comparison base in May 2020, derived from the fact that a year ago several department stores and specialized stores remained closed”, the association said in a statement.

Accumulated sales so far in 2021 amounted to 490,300 million pesos, 20.9% less than in the same period of 2019, when department stores, supermarkets and specialized stores billed 517,600 million pesos, according to data from Antad.

In a press conference in early June, Vicente Yáñez, president of ANTAD, declared that the sales spikes in April are not a sign of an economic recovery. In fact, it estimates that the recovery, to reach the levels of 2019 towards the end of this administration.

“We cannot claim victory because there are going to be very high figures, however for us to reach the pre-pandemic levels we would have to do things very, very well to arrive before the end of the six-year term if it can be done. There is always time to correct and amend mistakes, “he said then.

With the positive numbers for May, the retail sector is spinning four months of recovery, after marking in April the highest rise since there is a record of a 46.8% increase in sales. In February and March, sales in same stores grew 3.3% and 6.5%, respectively. In January, they fell 8.2%, amid the closure of shopping malls in some of the country’s main markets, such as Mexico City, the State of Mexico and Puebla.

At the end of 2020, the commercial chains that make up the association together have more than 68,000 stores. The total sales area of these establishments totals more than 24 million square meters.

More