Wholesale and retail trade sales statistics

Updated: 28 February 2024

Next update: 25 April 2024

Change in turnover for automotive fuel
Change in turnover for automotive fuel
5th period 2022 - 5th period 2023
-6.4
%
Wholesale and retail sale statistics (NOK million)
Wholesale and retail sale statistics (NOK million)1
TurnoverChange in per cent
5th period 20225th period 20235th period 2022 - 5th period 20232021 - 2022
Sale and repair of motor vehicles65 20162 303-4.49.7
Wholesale trade00..
Retail trade100 004103 5663.62.6
Grocery trade34 20536 8537.7-3.4
E-commerce7 1597 5595.64.9
1The figures do not include value added tax.
Due to uncertainty regarding the statistical population in nace 46, this will be excluded from publication until further notice.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Sales statistics of retail sales excluding sales of motorized vehicles. Sales exclude VAT, by county.
    Sales statistics of retail sales excluding sales of motorized vehicles. Sales exclude VAT, by county.
    NOK millionChange in per cent
    5th period 20225th period 20235th period 2022 - 5th period 2023
    The whole country100 004103 5663.6
    Viken (2020-2023)23 00723 7683.3
    Oslo14 18514 8274.5
    Innlandet6 8576 9731.7
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)8 5648 7051.6
    Agder6 0276 1912.7
    Rogaland8 2668 7245.5
    Vestland10 80911 3014.6
    Møre og Romsdal4 5134 6402.8
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage8 6829 0294.0
    Nordland - Nordlánnda4 5394 6733.0
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)4 5564 7353.9
    Due to uncertainty regarding the statistical population in nace 46, this will be excluded from publication until further notice.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Sales, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles.. Sales exclude VAT, by county
    Sales, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles.. Sales exclude VAT, by county
    NOK millionChange in per cent
    5th period 20225th period 20235th period 2022 - 5th period 2023
    The whole country65 20162 303-4.4
    Viken (2020-2023)24 95422 149-11.2
    Oslo11 2959 819-13.1
    Innlandet3 3223 5045.5
    Vestfold og Telemark (2020-2023)4 1474 115-0.8
    Agder2 6592 6690.4
    Rogaland4 0054 2425.9
    Vestland4 4314 93611.4
    Møre og Romsdal2 2322 3947.3
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage4 6474 7822.9
    Nordland - Nordlánnda1 6581 7626.3
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku (2020-2023)1 8521 9304.2
    Due to uncertainty regarding the statistical population in nace 46, this will be excluded from publication until further notice.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Turnover statistics except wholesale on a fee or contract basis. Turnover excluding VAT. NOK million
    Turnover statistics except wholesale on a fee or contract basis. Turnover excluding VAT. NOK million
    5th period 20226th period 20221st period 20232nd period 20233rd period 20234th period 20235th period 2023
    Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles65 20187 03047 26964 16669 62053 29662 303
    Sale of motor vehicles47 98168 77234 66047 85951 04739 10143 511
    Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles9 79511 6968 2129 95611 4278 80911 137
    Sale of motor vehicle parts and accessories6 9756 1773 9405 6556 2764 7437 209
    Sale, maintenance and repair of motorcycles and related parts and accessories450385457696869644446
    Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles0000000
    Wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals0000000
    Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco0000000
    Wholesale of household goods0000000
    Wholesale of information and communication equipment0000000
    Wholesale of machinery, equipment and supplies0000000
    Other specialised wholesale0000000
    Non-specialised wholesale trade0000000
    Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles100 004115 64585 41797 210111 616106 472103 566
    Retail sale in non-specialised stores37 82743 15435 31539 78642 90042 06940 723
    Retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores4 0175 7093 4144 4464 9724 7624 297
    Retail sale of automotive fuel in specialised stores10 7289 9168 8779 1889 9989 98110 038
    Retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores8791 061591725820878922
    Retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores18 17119 74513 89715 27018 93018 00417 724
    Retail sale of cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores4 0235 6072 8684 1305 0345 0804 286
    Retail sale of other goods in specialised stores16 65220 55513 67316 34620 85418 05817 455
    Retail sale via stalls and markets38781730648643
    Retail trade not in stores, stalls and markets7 6689 8216 7657 2908 0467 5548 079
    Due to uncertainty regarding the statistical population in nace 46, this will be excluded from publication until further notice.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The purpose of the statistics is to identify the level and development of wholesale and retail trade.The turnover for a given year is only final when the last period in the following year is published. Both quarterly figures and figures for every second month are available in StatBank.

Turnover: Includes dutiable and duty-free sales income from goods and services. Financial revenues, public subsidies or value added tax are not included.

Name: Wholesale and retail trade sales statistics
Topic: Wholesale and retail trade and service activities

25 April 2024

Division for Structural Business Statistics

Concerns bimonthly data only: Regular publication of data divided by counties in addition to the data published at national level. Other geographical breakdown can be commissioned.

Bimonthly level-numbers and quarterly indices.

The bimonthly turnover statistics is initially published about seventeen weeks after the expiration of the statistical period. Revised data are then published respectively two and four months after the initial publication.

The quarterly indices are initially published about sixty days after the expiration of the quarter. They are published at the NACE two-digit sector level only (NACE 45 and 46). Revised data are published in connection with the next time publication, i.e. three months after the initial publication.

The published data are being revised up to two calendar years back in time. This is explained in the table beneath, with the quarterly indices as an example. Superscript T refers to the current year, while subscript 1-4 refers to the relevant quarter.

The quarterly indices are reported to Eurostat, both gross data and data adjusted by working days, sixty days after the expiration of the quarter.

Primary data and the compiled statistics are stored electronically in files of the in the programming language SAS.

The purpose of the statistics is to identify the level of and the development of wholesale and retail trade. The statistics has been produced since 1995.

From 1995 to 2006, only the bimonthly data where published nationally. The quarterly indices where published by Eurostat only. As from the first quarter of 2007, the quarterly indices are also published nationally.

Users include public and private sector agencies and organisations. The National Accounts statistics of Statistics Norway rely on the timely production of the Wholesale and Retail Statistics. Other users include the Research department of Statistics Norway.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. Principles of communication and dissemination

Similar statistics is being prepared for all dutiable industries. Change in the progress of turnover is compared with the monthly Index of Retail Trade. Both change in progress and level numbers are compared with the annual Structural statistics for Wholesale and Retail Trade.

The Statistics Act, paragraphs 3-2.

EU Council Regulation No 1165/98, May 19, 1998 regarding short-term statistics.

The population is all VAT-registered units within the industries of wholesale and retail trade, repair of vehicles and household goods and personal goods included. Agency business is not part of the population. This means NACE 45, 46 (except 46.1) and NACE 47, according to the Standard of Industrial Classification (SIC2007). State owned units and units owned by the social security administration or local or regional governments are not part of the population. The observed unit is mainly identical to the obliged VAT-registered unit, i.e. enterprises with an annual turnover that exceeds NOK 50 000.

The VAT-register

The Wholesale and Retail Trade Statistics represent full-census survey data for the entire population.

Data are collected from the VAT-register.

Turnover is controlled against earlier received data. If the divergence is considerable, the individual VAT-unit is contacted. Information from the VAT-register is controlled against the Central register of Establishments and Enterprises and the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities.

For the bimonthly statistics the data are summed up. When a VAT-unit consists of more than one active firm, the data is being divided according to registered turnover in the last annual data file from the Central register of Establishments and Enterprises.

The quarterly indices are computed from the bimonthly statistics. Therefore it is needed to divide some of the bimonthly data in two. For the division, the number of workdays within a month is used. The model for calculation of quarterly data is described below:

The variable Q refers to quarterly numbers, B is bimonthly numbers and wd is the number of workdays in March, April, September or October. Superscript T refers to the actual quarter, while subscript T refers to the current year. Subscript j shows that the data is divided into the most detailed NACE level as possible, i.e. three-, four- or five-digit sector level. Subscript h refers to two-digit sector level.

Not relevant

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

To ensure confidentiality, the ‘suppression’ method is used in these statistics.

In the period 1995 to 2002 the statistics was published according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC1994). From 2002 is has been published according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC2002), and from 2009 is has been published according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC2007)

Changes in the statistics: Before the first bimonthly term of 2001, the statistics only included dutiable sales. From the first term of 2001, the statistics includes both dutiable and duty-fee sales.

Measurement errors (the respondent gives erroneous data) and processing errors (wrong interpretation of digits and letters written on paper forms during optical scanning) may occur. These types of errors are tried to avoid through control routines, as explained in chapter 3.5. Another possible error may occur, if there are used out of date distribution formulas to divide turnover in cases where a VAT-unit consists of more than one firms.

Errors in the estimation of quarterly indices may occur if the development between first and second term, or fourth and fifth term, in the bimonthly statistics is substantially different last year and this year.

The County Revenue Office is contacted in cases where big enterprises have failed to respond. For the first and second time publication, unit non-response is imputated. By the third and last publication, the turnover for unit non-response is set to cero.

Not relevant

Other errors in the VAT-register, under reporting included. This is difficult to value, but it is assumed not to represent a substantial source of errors.

Not relevant

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