Real-time retail consumption tracker: January 6–12 and February 13, 2023

Retail consumption uplift on February 6–12, 2023 was +6.1% y-o-y, piping down w-o-w (+9.6% y-o-y on January 30 – February 5, 2023).

However, early February sees a relatively high retail consumption growth rate (+4.9% y-o-y in January), mainly driven by high spend on Services (+17.8% y-o-y vs +16.1% in January).

Non-food items spending in nominal terms on February 6–12 dropped by 4.6% y-o-y (-4.2% in January 2023; -4.2% y-o-y; +0.7% y-o-y last week). However, this slowdown is partially caused by the fact that last year the pre-holiday days (February 12 and 13) were Saturday and Sunday, which typically means more spending.

SberIndex’s real-time retail consumption tracker as of February 13 showed higher y-o-y pre-St Valentine’s Day spending. For instance, this spending acceleration is traced in Flowers and Gifts (+206% as of February 13 vs January average, SA) and Jewelry (+162% as of February 13 vs January average, SA).

The average check in Flowers and Gifts and Jewelry for February 11–13 has grown significantly higher than inflation (+33.9% y-o-y and +36.3% y-o-y) and amounted to RUB 1,600 and RUB 8,400.
This growth can be explained with a disproportionately big increase of imported goods prices.