Retailing (Germany):
Business situation clearly worsened

In retailing the business climate has cooled further, falling below the level of the early months of the year for the entire summer quarter. This is not an indication that consumption has been revived via retailing. The surveyed participants are more dissatisfied with their current business situation than in the previous month, but with regard to the six-month business outlook their scepticism has weakened somewhat. In both the retailing of consumer durables and non-durables, turnover development was unsatisfactory. In both areas inventories are increasingly assessed as too large. Retailers thus plan to be more cautious when placing future orders. In comparison to the previous year, the business situation in clothing retailing has worsened. Inventories here are too large and orders have been considerably reduced.