Retail sales fell a sharp 9.4 per cent in October compared with a year ago, due to lower motor vehicles sales. If the effect of motor vehicles sales was excluded, retail sales went down by only 0.9 per cent.

Compared with September, retail sales were also weaker, falling 3.2 per cent, also due to the impact of poorer motor vehicle sales.

Compared to October 2012, retailers of motor vehicles saw a steep drop in sales of 39.6 per cent. Another category with double-digit declines was telecommunications apparatus and computers with a 13.2 per cent drop.

One bright spot was sales of food & beverage services which rose 2.2 per cent in October compared with a year ago.