Seasonally adjusted retail trade in Italy fell 0.6% month over month in August, in both value and volume terms, data from the country's National Institute of Statistics showed.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for a 0.2% monthly increase in retail trade value.
The latest print follows a revised 0.6% fall in retail trade value and a 0.7% drop in retail trade volume in July.
In the three months to August, retail trade grew 0.9% in value terms and it increased 0.8% in volume terms compared with the prior three-month period.
On an annual basis, overall retail trade rose for the third successive month, with retail trade value advancing 0.7% and retail volume increasing 0.5% in non-seasonally adjusted terms. Retail trade value of food increased 1.1% year over year.
Among non-food items, the largest growth in sales value was reported for furniture and textile items and household furnishings that climbed 2.6%, while the largest drop was reported for electric household appliances, audio-video equipment, with a 1.7% decline.
Year-over-year online sales increased 19.4% compared with a 23.4% growth registered in July. July's annual growth was revised from 23.2%, which marked the biggest growth in the year.
