MADRID: Tax Free Shopping (TFS) sales remained positive in the month of August, although growth slowed according to Global Blue, while Russian and American shoppers continued to contribute strongly to sales.
A combination of macro factors combined to temper sales, including a strong Euro and the high base of comparison in August 2016. Nevertheless, European tax free shopping spends continued to advance by 4% during August, although the new-found euro strength caused a slowing of sales across the continent. This included a slight fall in sales to Chinese shoppers in August, with transactions said to be ‘flat’ year-on-year.
Global Blue said: “Spain saw the strongest growth at +15% year-on-year, while France (+5%) and the United Kingdom (+8%) experienced solid sales growth last month. German sales-in-store fell by -14% during August (year-on-year) due to continued shifting travel patterns from Chinese visitors.
“August’s terror attack in Barcelona caused a temporary slowdown in Spanish TFS sales growth, with sales static at +0% in the week immediately after the attack.
“However, the following week, saw sales back to significant, double-digit growth of +41%. “This mirrors performance around similar European attacks and shows the limited impact of such incidents on TFS performance.”
Global Blue also notes that Chinese Globe Shoppers saw a slight increase during August (+1% year-on-year), transactions saw a small year-on-year decrease of -3%.
It said lower arrival figures and a high base of comparison with August 2016 contributed to the fall. Average spend growth was also limited by the continued strengthening of the euro against the Chinese Yuan.
