Sales at department stores drop in August

Showing a possible contraction in consumer spending, sales at both discount outlets and department stores dropped from a year earlier for the third consecutive month in August, the government said Monday.

Combined sales at the country's three major discount outlet chains fell 3.3 percent on-year last month, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The outlet chains are Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Homeplus.

Sales at the country's three major department store chains -- Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai -- shrank at a faster rate of 6.9 percent from the same month last year.

August marks the third consecutive month sales of both discount outlets and department stores have slipped from a year earlier with discount outlets posting a year-on-year loss in their monthly sales for five straight months.

The ministry attributed the drop partly to the forced shutdown of large discount outlets on weekends, a program introduced earlier in the year to help protect the country's traditional street markets and small stores.

It still noted worsening economic conditions and deteriorating consumer sentiment may also have played a role.

"Deterioration in consumer sentiment, along with the forced shutdown of certain stores, appears to have affected overall sales of discount outlet chains," the ministry said in a press release.

The number of individual purchases at discount outlet stores in August dropped 1.6 percent from a year earlier with the average amount of each purchase also slipping 1.7 percent on-year.

The number of purchases at department stores gained 0.4 percent on-year but the stores' overall sales suffered a bigger loss as the average size of each purchase dropped 7.3 percent, the ministry said. (Yonhap)