FRANKFURT: German shoppers were surprisingly keen to spend in November, official data showed on Tuesday.
Retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, increased by 1.5 percent in adjusted terms in November compared with October, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
Retail sales had shrunk by 0.8 percent in October.
On a 12-month basis, too, business increased strongly for retailers, with sales showing a rise of 1.6 percent in November compared with the same month last year, the statisticians calculated.
Retail sales data are subsequent to frequent revision and analysts had been forecasting a smaller increase of around 0.6 percent for November.
"As many other indicators of German economic activity, retail sales turned up in November after a weaker October, pointing to a strong finish of 2013," said Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz.
"The increase was the strongest since January 2013, and probably reflects some delayed purchases from October, which had been subdued possibly due to some post-election uncertainty about potential tax hikes as well as weather effects," the expert suggested.
Despite the November bounce, however, average sales in October and November combined were unchanged from the third quarter.
"But a strong Christmas shopping season could still round off what otherwise looks like a fairly strong quarter for the economy," Schulz said.
"Given the strong fundamental position of German households with low debt, rising incomes, low unemployment and low inflation, consumption should remain a robust contributor to German growth in 2013 and beyond," he concluded.
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