In January 2023, domestic trade sales recorded a decline of 3.4% compared to January 2022 and 15.4% compared to January 2019 (pre-pandemic). This result was mainly due to lower sales in supermarkets and hypermarkets (-5.2%), hardware stores (-6.4%), home equipment products (-9.8%), and pharmacies and drugstores (-1.6%). In contrast, this performance was partially offset by higher sales in department stores (+0.2%), as well as book and newspaper retailers and stationery shops (+43.3%).
