Invest in Finland

Finland enjoys record retail sales in 2008 and good prospects for 2009

15/10/2008

A questionnaire of the members of the federation conducted at the end of September showed Finnish retailers are certain that this year’s Christmas trading will remain as brisk as in previous years. The possibility of further growth would not be unexpected.
“There is no reason to believe that Santa’s order books will be significantly shorter than last year,” says Magnis Bargum, Managing Director of the Federation of Finnish Commerce.

Uncertainty is expected to increase next year as the different sectors of the retail trade feel the effects of the global financial crisis in different ways. Nevertheless, the federation is still confident that overall 2009 will be another good year for the retail trade in Finland. The federation predicts that the retail trade will grow by about 3% next year (not including car sales), and wholesale trade by 1% (not including car sales).

This year, the total sales (without VAT) of the federation’s members is expected to reach almost EUR 57 billion compared to EUR 54 billion last year. The sales figures for January-August 2008 reveal that retail trade growth was 6.4% during this period, with car retail sales increasing by 3%, wholesale consumer goods sales growing by 2.3%, and technology goods sales increasing by 8.3%. The strongest growth was in the sales of construction machinery and equipment, up by an impressive 31%.

The federation’s forecast for the whole of 2008 is a 5.5% increase in retail sales (not including car sales) and 4% growth for the wholesale trade (not including car sales). This is the fourteenth consecutive growth year for the retail sector.