Retail Services Price Index, second quarter 2022

The Retail Services Price Index (RSPI) represents the change in the price of retail services. The price of a retail service is defined as the margin price, which is the difference between the average purchase price and the average selling price of the retail product being priced. The RSPI is not a retail selling price index.

With each release, data for the previous quarter may have been revised. The indexes are not seasonally adjusted. Data are available at the Canada level only.

Methodological change for supermarkets and other grocery (except convenience) stores, and convenience stores

Statistics Canada endeavours to reduce the burden on respondents and to improve data quality by finding alternate data sources. Notably, some major retailers now provide scanner data, which comprise detailed sales information on the products they sell. With the release of data from the second quarter of 2020, data collected through questionnaires for some respondents in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) categories 44511 and 44512 have been replaced by scanner data. As a result, the methodology for calculating indexes for NAICS categories 44511 and 44512 has changed from the reference period of January 2019 onward.

Products

Statistics Canada has launched the new dashboard "Wholesale and Retail Services Price Indexes: Interactive Tool." This web application provides access to wholesale and retail margin data by category.

Statistics Canada launched the Producer Price Indexes Portal as part of a suite of portals for prices and price indexes. This webpage provides Canadians with a single point of access to a variety of statistics and measures related to producer prices.

The video "Producer price indexes" is available on the Statistics Canada Training Institute webpage. It provides an introduction to Statistics Canada's producer price indexes—what they are, how they are produced and what they are used for.

Quality indicators

Data quality indicators are based on measures of survey precision (standard errors), estimates of market coverage (based on the RSPI sample) and the number of reported price quotes.

Index series without data quality indicators are considered to be statistically reliable.

Users are encouraged to consider quality indicators when using RSPI data.