BRITISH COLUMBIA – Canadian seasonally-adjusted retail sales rose 0.5 per cent in December to $62.1 billion. Sales rose in seven of eleven subsectors but were led by higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers (+3.8 per cent) and general merchandise stores (+1.7 per cent).
Core retail sales, which strips out gasoline and motor vehicle and parts dealers, rose 0.4 per cent. In volume terms, sales rose 1.3 per cent in December.
In BC, seasonally-adjusted sales fell 1.1 per cent in December. Compared to the same month last year, retail sales were up 4 per cent in the province. In the Greater Vancouver region, sales fell 0.9 per cent month-over-month and were up 3.7 per cent year-over-year.
In December, Canadian e-commerce sales fell 1.6 per cent to $4.4 billion, corresponding to 6.5 per cent of retail sales. This percentage remains elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels, but is lower than during core months of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
