Largest growth in five years for motor vehicles

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Local kind-of-activity units (local KAUs) in wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles had a turnover of nearly NOK 218 billion in 2015. This is 9.4 per cent more than in 2014, and is the largest growth the industry has seen since 2010.

The turnover in the wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles varied widely in the period 2007–2015. During the financial crisis years 2008–2009, turnover fell by 8.5 per cent. The next two years saw a significant growth. In 2010, turnover was already back to a higher level than in 2007. The increase was 13.1 and 8.8 per cent respectively in 2010 and 2011. The growth continued for the next three years but at a more moderate level with an annual revenue increase of 2.5 per cent on average.

Retail trade up every year since 2007

For the eighth consecutive year we see a sales increase in retail trade. Local KAUs in retail trade had a turnover of NOK 464 billion in 2015. This is 2.2 per cent more than in 2014. The industry had a fairly steady development over the period 2007–2015, and was not as strongly affected by the financial crisis as the two other industries. Turnover increased by 1.4 per cent in 2009. This is down from an increase of 4.5 per cent the year before, but this was a year when the other two industries had a turnover decline of 6.3 per cent. From 2010–2015, the industry experienced an annual increase of 3.1 per cent on average.

Moderate growth for wholesale trade

Wholesale trade had a turnover of around NOK 860 billion in 2015. This is 1.0 per cent more than in 2014. Although the overall increase for this industry is modest, greater fluctuations can be seen at a more detailed level. Each industry is divided into several groups. Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco, which is the largest group in the wholesale trade division, increased its sales by 8.8 per cent. The second largest group, other specialised wholesale, had a decline of 7.2 per cent.

In total, wholesale and retail trade ended up with a turnover of NOK 1 544 billion in 2015. This is 2.5 per cent more than in 2014. Figure 1 shows that after a decline in 2009, the wholesale and retail trade industries have increased their revenue every year. From 2009 to 2015, sales in the three industries increased turnover by 21.4 per cent.

Figure 1. Turnover by industry group. Local kind-of-activity units

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 164351.1 157188.2 150446.4 170107.6 185046.4 189219.7 193473.2 199154.9 217921.8
46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 742664.5 787886.7 735018.0 742382.9 785666.9 821201.2 824743.3 852174.2 860894.7
47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 364166.2 380511.9 385966.0 399589.4 414612.5 427640.3 437044.2 454851.0 464815.8

Two fifths of sales in Oslo and Akershus

As illustrated in figure 2, the two counties Oslo and Akershus had the highest turnover from wholesale and retail trade in 2015. In Oslo, the local KAUs traded for NOK 354 billion. In Akershus they were trading for NOK 290 billion. These two counties accounted for 41.8 per cent of Norway’s wholesale and retail trade in 2015. By comparison, they had 26 per cent of the local KAUs and 30.7 per cent of the employment.

Figure 2. Turnover by region. Local kind-of-activity units. 2015

Turnover NOK million
Other Norwegian regions 402.7
Finnmark - Finnmárku 12469.9
Nord-Trøndelag 20481.1
Aust-Agder 23292.7
Sogn og Fjordane 25521.2
Telemark 31574.5
Oppland 33343.4
Vest-Agder 35558.6
Hedmark 41746.2
Troms - Romsa 42699.1
Nordland 48700.5
Østfold 62631.3
Vestfold 66407.9
Møre og Romsdal 67030.5
Buskerud 70007.5
Sør-Trøndelag 76809.5
Rogaland 106068.6
Hordaland 134394.1
Akershus 289970.1
Oslo 354522.8

New data source for employment numbers

Developments in employment in the wholesale and retail trade were very stable over the period 2007–2014. As shown in figure 3, 368 027 persons were employed in 2007. In 2014, seven years later, the number was 371 648. This is an increase of 1.0 per cent. From 2014 to 2015 we see an increase of 4.5 per cent, thus ending up with 388 202 employees. Employment figures are now taken from the A-ordningen, and not from the Aa-registeret as before. Part of the increase is probably due to this transition.

Figure 3. Employment by industry group. Local kind-of-activity units

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 43965 44939 44323 45317 45829 46405 47094 46894 49009
46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 110472 114281 111593 109387 108480 107825 107440 107971 110989
47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 213590 214989 213503 214133 213015 214251 214736 216783 228204

Increasingly more local KAUs in the motor vehicle industry

The number of local KAUs in the motor vehicle industry has increased steadily since 2007, with a small exception in 2010. In 2015, there were 9 845 local KAUs in the industry. This is 11.1 per cent more than in 2007. Overall, we had 66 119 local KAUs in wholesale and retail trade in 2015, which is 2.0 per cent fewer than in 2007. The decline is due to the two other industries. The strongest decline was in 2009 and 2010. As we can see in figure 4, the number of local KAUs has, overall, remained stable in the period 2010-2015, with an increase of only 0.6 per cent over these five years.

Figure 4. Number of local kind-of-activity units, by industry group

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 8865 9078 9058 9127 9281 9478 9657 9696 9845
46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 20096 20134 19753 19195 19144 19105 18984 19058 19109
47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 38481 38678 38267 37380 37170 37219 37077 36982 37165

Half of the local KAUs and employment in retail trade

Figure 5 shows how local KAUs, employment and turnover were spread between the three wholesale and retail trade industries in 2015. Retail trade accounted for more than half of the local KAUs and employees, but just under one third of the turnover. Wholesale trade, on the other hand, had more than half the turnover, but less than a third of the local KAUs and employees. As a result, turnover per employee was NOK 7.8 million for wholesale trade, and only NOK 2 million for retail. Wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles had a turnover of NOK 4.4 million per employee.

Figure 5. Local kind-of-activity units, employment and turnover by industry group, 2015

Local kind-of-activity units Employment Turnover
45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 14.9 12.6 14.1
46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 28.9 28.6 55.8
47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 56.2 58.8 30.1

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