Austria

After a peak the year before, retail volume sales remained at a high level and significantly superior to pre-pandemic levels in the second year of the pandemic in 2021. Defying the increasing health awareness trends and a worsening image of smoking,…

Vending will see a considerable recovery in 2021 after a strong drop in the 2020 due to low consumer traffic in offices and other major vending locations. However, sales will nevertheless remain significantly below 2019 levels as consumers continue…

In 2021, variety stores will register strong growth in value sales. The drop in 2020 when consumer traffic was low, especially during the peaks of the pandemic, was smaller than for many other retailing channels as there was less of a shift online.…

Just as in several other areas in home care, demand cooled notably in toilet care in 2021 after the sales spike in 2020, when consumers used their bathrooms/toilets significantly more often due to lockdowns and working/learning from home.…

Menswear saw a strong decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the shift to working from home and the postponement of social engagements removed the incentive to buy new or replacement apparel. However, menswear saw a rebound to single-digit…

After having experienced strong growth in retail sales in both volume and value terms in 2020 driven by the rise in at-home consumption as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, tea has recorded more modest growth in 2021. Austrian consumers enjoy…

Organic beverages remains a comparably small category in Austria, as its selection is still limited and local consumers do not always understand the immediate benefits of organic products in relation to their health and wellbeing. The higher than…

Compared to the previous year when, with the exception of boxed facial tissues, all categories within retail tissue recorded strong retail value growth due to consumers spending more time at home during the lockdown compared to in settings such as…

Like in hypermarkets, supermarkets will a significant drop in value sales in 2021 as home seclusion and closed foodservice venues during the pandemic led to a peak in 2020 that could not be sustained. Nevertheless, value sales will remain…

Convenience stores is not usually considered a distinguished retail channel in Austria. The penetration of fully-fledged supermarkets is very high in Austria especially in mid-sized towns and larger cities, with these outlets offering a large variety…

Just as in other areas of home care, demand for bleach in Austria notably cooled in 2021, following the sales spike seen in 2020, with consumer demand for cleanliness and hygiene extremely high when the pandemic first hit the country and usage was…

After a year of significant decline in 2020 due to COVID-19, in 2021 womenswear saw a rebound to growth in Austria in both retail volume and current value terms. Women continued to favour activewear and casualwear over officewear and apparel for…

Sportswear posted a slight decline in retail current value terms in 2020, but it still fared better than most other apparel and footwear categories, which turned to significant decline. The decline in sales was mainly due to store closures as well as…

Personal wipes accounts for the bulk of value sales within overall wipes. The performance of personal wipes has the strongest impact on total wipes sales. Personal wipes recorded a good performance in terms of value sales, along with stable volume…

Discounters will see a notable drop in value sales in 2021, mostly due to the spike experienced in 2020 when grocery retailing benefitted from home seclusion and closed foodservice venues. However, pandemic-related fluctuations were relatively small…

Cider/perry in Austria is the sum of the traditional Most variant and conventional cider and perry drinks. Overall volume sales in the on-trade remained low in 2021 because of the government’s anti-COVID-19 measures. Horeca was limited to takeaway…

Beer consumption continued to shift from the on-trade to the off-trade in 2021 because of the government’s anti-COVID-19 measures. However, off-trade volume sales witnessed much slower growth as the desire for home drinking eased off and consumers…

In 2021, sanitary protection recorded a decrease in retail value sales. In response to public debate about the high prices of sanitary protection products, the value added tax on sanitary protection products was reduced from 20% to 10% from 1 January…

Direct selling will continue its largely unchecked growth track in 2021 after being one of the few non-grocery retailers to see rising sales in the first year of the pandemic. Aiding the continued growth was the fact that face-to-face sales parties…

Surface care experienced a surge in demand in 2020 due to the elevated hygiene and cleanliness standards consumers were looking to maintain when the pandemic first hit Austria. Moreover, the arrival of the pandemic coincided with spring in Austria,…