Inflation-adjusted retail sales increased by 1.3 per cent in July, the second time in the past 17 months that monthly sales volume has improved year-on-year.The retail sales rate of inflation was measured at 1.2 per cent in July. In dollar terms, retail sales totalled $107.2 million, an improvement of 2.5 per cent. Four of the seven retail sectors had a higher volume of sales compared with July 2018.Wayne Furbert, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “We saw some encouraging signs in the July retail sales report. “E-commerce and online shopping continue to be broadening global trend. And other areas of note in the July report include overseas declarations going up — which is a reflection of residents’ increase of overseas or online shopping.“Our numbers indicate that the total overseas declarations rose 25.9 per cent in July 2019 compared to July 2018. Overseas declarations includes imports received via courier, residents through the airport, households by sea and the post office.”There was a 4.8 per cent improvement in sales volume, year-on-year, in the “all other store types” sector, where the value of marine and boat supplies was up 46 per cent, and the value of pharmacy sales, and furniture, appliances and electronics sales, were up 4.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.Elsewhere, sales volume decreased by 25.6 per cent for building material stores, and by 8.6 per cent for apparel stores.However, the volume of sales for service stations was up 4.1 per cent, and motor vehicle stores saw a 4.2 per cent improvement in sales volume, year-on-year.Food stores also improved in sales volume, up 2.8 per cent, while liquor sales volume was unchanged.In the Retail Sales Index bulletin from the Department of Statistics, imports via courier increased $3.7 million to $14.5 million “due to higher imports of medical devices, clothing and jewellery”.Imports by households via sea rose $1.2 million to $2.2 million as a result of more imports of furniture, boats and motor vehicles.Declarations by returning residents via the airport decreased $300,000 to $4.3 million. Imports via the post office fell $200,000 to $400,000.• Click on Related Media for the Retail Sales Index bulletin