The retail sector in The Netherlands saw revenue boosted by 9.6% compared to November last year, according to the Dutch Office for National Statistics (CBS).
The sales volume increased by 8.4%, with both the food sector and non-food sectors increasing their revenue. Online sales increased by a massive 55.5%.
Consumer electronics and house appliances had the biggest sales increase since records began in 2005, followed by D.I.Y. shops, kitchen, and flooring companies. People also spend more on furniture and interior design.
Grocery stores saw a revenue increase of 5.3%, while speciality food shops had an increase of 9.7%.
On the downside, clothing sales and shoe shops saw a drop in revenue for the second month running.
It is thought that because consumers were unable to go on holiday or engage in their usual leisure activities they instead spent more of their spare cash shopping. Savings also increased during the same period.
The figures are corrected for shop opening hours, meaning that on some days of the week there are more sales than others. Without this correction the sales figures would have been 5.4% higher than the previous November.
The revenue in non-food shops increased in November by 5.9%. Without the correction it was 5.1% higher than a year ago.
The online revenue was in November 55.5% higher than the same month in the previous year. Web-shops saw their revenue grow by 43.9%, while retailers with a web-shop had an increase of 72.2%.
