The economic situation of trade in 2023 and early 2024

In 2023, sales in France's non-automotive trade sector fell, against a background of economic slowdown. Sales contracted in the wholesale sector, particularly among food wholesalers. The decline in in-store retail sales masks a number of disparities. Food sales have dropped sharply, penalized by the sharp rise in prices, while non-food sales were almost stable. In non-store retailing, sales continued to fall, also suffering from the sharp increase in food prices. Conversely, sales rose strongly in the motor vehicle trade and repair sector.

Salaried employment in the trade sector as a whole was almost stable, whereas it went up slightly in the commercial tertiary sector (+0,6 %). Lastly, business start-ups dipped slightly and insolvencies continued to expand. In the first quarter of 2024, excluding the effects of seasonal variations and working days, sales in the trade sector as a whole are expected to go up in volume terms by 0.5 % compared with the average for 2023.