Retail sales exhibited modest growth in July, which was indicative of a consistent consumer appetite. Both value and volume experienced positive changes on a month-over-month basis, with food products experiencing minor gains and non-food products demonstrating a more substantial increase in value. Although the value of retail transactions increased by 1.0 percent year-over-year, volume growth was only 0.1 percent.

The sales of food products were inconsistent, with a 0.3 percent increase in value and a 0.7 percent decrease in volume. This suggests a trend towards premium or higher-priced items. In contrast, non-food products experienced a significant uptick, with fragrances and personal care items experiencing a 6.0 percent rise. However, games and toys experienced a modest decline. Large-scale and small-scale businesses, as well as e-commerce, all reported upticks in sales in comparison to July 2023 in terms of distribution channels. Sales outside of physical stores experienced a minor fall, while e-commerce experienced a substantial 4.1 percent uptick.

This trend emphasises a growing predilection for online purchasing and suggests that, despite the continued importance of traditional retail channels, digital platforms are becoming more critical to the development of the retail industry. These updates leave the RPI and RPI-P at 6, implying that the Italian economic performance is within market estimates.

Retail sales measure the total receipts at stores that sell durable and nondurable goods. The headline data are expressed in nominal terms but volume statistics are also available. Autos are excluded. Only a very limited breakdown of subsector performance is available in the first report but much greater detail is provided in the following month's release. The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) is the main producer of official statistics in Italy.

With consumer spending a large part of the economy, market players continually monitor spending patterns. Retail sales are a measure of consumer well-being. The pattern in consumer spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth.