National Institute of  Statistics ( Istat)

Directorate for Business Statistics (DCSE)

Division for short-term business statistics  (SED)

Via Tuscolana, 1788 00173 Rome Italy

Retail trade Index (Indice del commercio al dettaglio)

Data on monthly retail trade value, with reference to the main retail trade activities as in NACE Rev.2. 

NACE Rev. 2.

Activities covered: all Groups of Division 47 of NACE Rev. 2 except enterprises having the sale of car and fuel as main economic activity.

Size classes covered: enterprises of all sizes are covered.

List and definition of variables: Turnover and volume of sales. Turnover includes VAT.

Reporting unit: Enterprise

Observation unit(s): Enterprise

Retail trade enterprises classified in Division 47 of NACE Rev.2. The total number of enterprises are about 8000.

Whole national territory

Series of index with base 2015=100 start from January 2000.

Starting from January 2018 indices are in base 2015=100

Indices, percentage changes (%).

Calendar month.

Legal basis

National level:

This is one of the compulsory surveys fixed every year by a Decree of the President of the Republic (D.P.R.).

European level:

The legal basis for the STS indicators are the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS-Regulation) and the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 (General Implementing Act).

Obligation on units to provide data: Surveys are mandatory. Penalties are foreseen for non-response

Not available.

Survey elementary data are treated as confidential. Aggregated data are disseminated in http://dati.istat.it/?lang=en&SubSessionId=4d8586c4-5259-42c8-80e2-c883dab9ccbb

Some variables can be transmitted to Eurostat as confidential when they are not disseminated in Italy. 

Every year, in December ISTAT publishes a release calendar providing the monthly release dates for the coming year. The calendar is distributed to the press and is available free of charge to interested parties.

The release calendar is disseminated on ISTAT's website https://www.istat.it/en/information-and-services/journalists/press-releases-/press-calendar

Every month, data are transmitted to Eurostat as confidential, via Edamis (file extension '.xml'), with a delay of 30 days from the reference period. With the national press release, after few days, data become public.

Time series are available on I.Stat database and, through thematic information systems, users can choose information according to their needs, building customised tables or downloading prepackaged datasets. Data are always accompanied by meta- information, methodologies, classifications, definitions. Microdata files are released free of charge and in compliance with the principle of statistical secrecy confidentiality and protection of personal data. 

Monthly.

Data releases ¿Statistiche flash ¿ commercio al dettaglio¿ are posted on Istat website according to a prefixed annual release calendar, published by the previous December.

https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/commercio+al+dettaglio

Data are made available also through a statistical yearbook: ¿Annuario Statistico Italiano¿ (ASI) - Italian Statistical Yearbook

Annuario statistico 2021

Monthly data are also available in the I.stat database (I.Stat) theme  ¿Services¿, data set ¿Index of retail trade sales¿.

The on-line database I.Stat is open and free, statistics are organised by theme in a two-level hierarchical tree. Data are presented in aggregate form in multidimensional tables; acting on variables and reference periods, users can create custom tables and graphs. The system can be searched by keyword, theme and region.

A wide range of standard metadata facilitates the retrieval and understanding of statistics by users.

More information available in the User Guide 

Validated microdata are stored in the repository of the Institute, ARMIDA.

Microdata are released for research purposes in compliance with the principle of statistical secrecy and protection of personal data. 

Not available

The Istat Information system on quality of statistical production processes SIQual  contains information on the execution on Istat statistical production processes and on activities developed to guarantee quality of the produced statistical information. For Details: http://siqual.istat.it/SIQual/visualizza.do?id=0109600

Istat quality policy is coherent with the European framework developed by Eurostat, taking up its main principles and definitions Further details are available on: https://www.istat.it/en/methods-and-tools/tools-for-data-quality

The trade-off between timeliness (fundamental for STS data) and accuracy must be considered.

Any initiative in favor of the overall quality of the survey process and data produced is considered and, if possible, carried out.

Main users of Retail trade index are:

- Institutions: government departments, ECB, national central bank, international organisations, etc.
- Social actors: employers' organisations, trade unions, lobby groups, etc.
- Media
- Researchers & students
- Enterprises/businesses
- Internal users
- Eurostat

User satisfaction can be evaluated on the basis of communications (formal or informal) and exchanges of information. The overall satisfaction is good.

European requirements are fulfilled.

Non sampling error is controlled through specific procedures: constant follow up actions, support to help units with the questionnaire compilation, use of automatic tools (i.e. applications) developed to check data. Particular attention is addressed to larger units. Anyway, taking into consideration the huge amount of small retail trade enterprises in Italy, units with a small number of persons employed are also monitored and supported for the correct data transmission.

All the deadlines stated in the EBS Regulation are met.

All the scheduled releases are delivered on time.

Not applicable, only national level.

Data on main aggregates are comparable since 1995. When changes in source data, methodology, and statistical techniques are introduced, time series are back-casted as far back as reasonably possible.

Comparisons with structural business statistics data and estimates from non official sources are made.

Internal coherence between aggregates is verified.

The cost estimate is compiled in terms of total number of hours worked (THW). It is equal to the product of three terms: (total) Annual Working Days (AWD), (total) Hours Worked per Day (HWD), Number of Persons involved in the Survey (NPS).

The burden estimate is compiled in terms of total number of minutes (TNM) taken to fill in the (web) questionnaire. The burden is applied to respondent, i.e. the person who fills in the questionnaire on behalf of the enterprise. To estimate it, two elements have been taken into account. The former distinguishes between beginner and expert respondent, to point out respectively the person who fills in the web questionnaire for the first time and the one who is familiar with filling in the form. The latter, closely concerns the information that have to be monthly provided. On average, by combining these two elements, the time spent to fill in the questionnaire (just the burden) is estimated in terms of total number of minutes between a minimum and a maximum threshold.

Revisions are mainly due to new information (late respondents), and to changes in data of single enterprises and change of base year.

In case of exceptional revisions due to error correction a prompt communication is given both to Eurostat and on the Istat website.

Major changes in methodology, sources and statistical techniques are announced in ad hoc publications.

Advance notification of methodological changes is also provided through seminars and papers disseminated throughout the scientific community.

Monthly revisions (routine revisions) are also scheduled and concern both indexes transmitted to Eurostat and indexes nationally released.
The revision is made in order to take into account the additional information from the respondents. 

Details on revision policy are also available at the web page https://www.istat.it/en/economic-trends/revisions

Type of source: Sample survey.

Frame on which the source is based: ASIA register managed and updated by the ISTAT.

Criteria for stratification: Stratification is based on:

• 3 employment classes (up to 5, 6-49, 50 or more);
• NACE Classes and/or categories;
• Groups of products sold.

Threshold values and percentages: A threshold is represented by 50 persons employed.

Data are collected monthly.

Questionnaires used in the survey: An electronic questionnaire is available for the collection of monthly data.

Planned changes in national questionnaires: No changes have been planned.

Data collection media: Starting from January 2017 data are collected trough the portal http://imprese.istat.it only.

Planned changes in data collection methodology: No changes have been planned.

Data collected are recorded in a database and, before being validated, are checked using several tools available in the survey information system. Checks are made considering the coherence of data with respect to the whole dataset. Checks using historical data are also carried out.

Before data transmission to Eurostat file format, code lists and consistency are checked by automatic procedures. 

Estimates for non-response:

• If no previous response is available for this enterprise (due, for instance, to a partial rotation of the sample), imputation is carried out on the basis of the average change calculated for respondent enterprises in the same stratum.
• If at least one previous response is available, the estimate is obtained applying to the last available response referred the percent change occurd between that month and the reference month to be estimated based upon respondent units.

Type of index:
Laspeyres index with a fixed base.

Planned changes in production methods:
None.

WDA, SA and other calculations:

Starting from the reference month August 2001 seasonal adjustment is performed for the following series: total retail trade turnover, retail trade turnover of food products, retail trade turnover of non-food products. Working day adjustment is carried out for all the series transmitted to Eurostat:

Deflators are estimated according to the aggregation level indicated in EU Regulation, on the basis of monthly indices of consumer prices HICP.

For what concerns national dissemination, seasonal adjusted data are produced for Food, Non-food and Total series.

With reference to the seasonally adjustment procedure used to treat the indicators disseminated, the seasonal adjustment models were reviewed to manage the exceptional decreases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic emergency taking into consideration the Eurostat guidelines.

None.