It was the highest month-on-month increase in sales since the beginning of the data collection in 1994.
"This means that retail trade was able to compensate for the coronavirus related sales losses of the previous months," Destatis noted.
The reason for the strong increase was the subsequent easing of business closures that had been introduced during the coronavirus crisis. In April, sales had fallen by 6.5 percent in real terms compared with the previous month, according to Destatis.
Even compared to last year, German retail sales in May rose by 3.8 percent in real terms, according to the preliminary data by Destatis.
With an increase of 28.7 percent in sales in real terms, the internet and mail-order business recorded the largest turnover growth year-on-year.
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