Retail sales in South Korea remained lackluster last month, indicating the still sagging consumer demand, a government report showed Thursday.
Revenue in major discount outlets declined 4.6 percent in March from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. At the discount chains, sales of household items and food reduced 9.9 percent and 3.3 percent each, and sports item sales also shed 9 percent last month.
Revenue in department stores inched up 0.3 percent in March on a yearly basis, with sales of foreign luxury brand clothing jumping 7.3 percent. Food sales grew 3.1 percent on renewed food counters. Sales in convenient stores jumped 20.1 percent in March from a year earlier, keeping a double-digit growth as consumers, especially one-member household, flocked to the stores for food.
Processed food sales at the convenient stores advanced 16.3 percent, with fresh fruit sales surging 43.9 percent. Cigarette sales increased 22.3 percent. For the first three months of this year, convenient stores revenue jumped 27.2 percent compared with a year ago.
Sales in department stores rose 2.4 percent in the first quarter, but those in discount chains inched down 0.8 percent.
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