Retail Commodity Survey, July 2020

Released: 2020-10-13

Retail sales reached $57.2 billion dollars in July, up 4.8% compared with the same month a year prior. This marked the second consecutive increase in year-over-year sales for the sector, as COVID-19 restrictions eased and regions across the country continued to reopen. Higher sales were reported in 12 of the 19 commodity categories.

Looking ahead to August, the advance estimate provided by the Monthly Retail Trade Survey suggests that unadjusted total retail sales increased by 1.7%. Owing to its preliminary nature, this figure should be expected to be revised.

Essential goods eat into total retail spending

Even with COVID-19 restrictions easing across the country, Canadians continued to eat at home more, with sales of food showing the largest year-over-year increase (+12.1%) for the fifth consecutive month. Food and beverage sales accounted for just over one-quarter (25.9%) of all retail receipts in July, up from 24.1% the previous year. While food and beverage sales continue to represent a larger than normal share of consumer spending in the sector, this share has declined considerably from the record high seen in April (38.0%). The largest gains in the product category came from fresh fruit and vegetables (+14.5%), fresh meat and poultry (+14.7%) and eggs and dairy products (+14.4%). Growth in these product categories was buoyed in part by higher prices compared with the same month the previous year, as prices continue to adjust following supply shocks earlier this year.

Increasing sales in beverages (+14.8%), were led by alcohol, up 14.3% from a year earlier.

Sales at the pump

For the second consecutive month, the sale of automotive and household fuels represented the largest decline in the sector, down 22.4% from the previous year in July. This decline was primarily due to automotive fuels, with sales at the pump down $1.1 billion on a year-over-year basis. With restrictions continuing to ease and consumers travelling locally, increasing demand and prices resulted in shrinking declines in sales of automotive fuels when compared with the previous three months.

Although consumer spending has rebounded above pre-COVID-19 levels, the sale of motor vehicles continued to trail in July, down 1.3% from a year prior. New motor vehicle sales continued to impede growth in the category, with sales decreasing 4.9%. This was the fifth straight month of negative growth for the category compared with the same month a year prior, marking the longest period of negative growth since the series began in 2012. Consumers continued to turn to the lower cost alternative, as used car sales continued to bolster the product category—marking the second consecutive month of positive growth (+13.1% in June and +4.6% in July).

Non-essential spending soars

With many travel restrictions still in place for the month of July, consumers sought out local substitutes for travel and recreation. Enjoying the summer weather, consumers had higher than normal spending on products to be enjoyed outdoors, including recreational vehicles (+47.3%) and sporting and leisure categories (+29.8%). Leading the increase in these categories were new recreational boats (+58.2%), new motor homes, travel trailers and truck campers (+47.4%), and hunting, fishing and camping equipment (+40.2%).

In July, consumers continued to spend on items around the house, led by strong growth in sales of hardware and renovation supplies not elsewhere classified (+83.3%), major home appliances (+20.2%) and small home appliances (+41.3%).

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).