Turnover of companies in the Trade Sector stood at 1,044,477 million euros in 2024, which represented an increase of 3.1% as compared with the previous year. The added value generated by these businesses increased in an 8.4% and its gross operating surplus in a 7.8%.
The Trade Sector is characterised by the predominance of very small businesses. In 2024, 94.7% of the companies had fewer than 10 employees. These small businesses employed 36.6% of the sector's workforce and their turnover accounted for 22.0% of the total.
On the other hand, companies with 250 or more employees, which represented 0.1% of the total, employed 33.4% of the workforce and generated 37.2% of the sector's turnover.
Absolute values and percentage change
The businesses number increased in the three Trade activity divisions in 2024. The largest increase was in Retail trade except for motor vehicles and motorcycles (8.0%).
The wholesale businesses accounted for 58.3% of the total turnover of the sector and 35.6% of the employed personnel.
Retail trade, except motor vehicles and motorcycles, represented 31.3% of the sector's turnover and 54.7% of the total employment. Six out of 10 companies in the sector were retailers.
The sectors contributing most to the sector’s total turnover in 2024 were Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco (16.6%), Other specialised wholesale trade (16.6%) and Wholesale of household goods (12.7%).
The business groups that increased their revenue the most were Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (15.8%) and Retail trade not carried out in stores, stalls or markets (13.0%). Conversely, the largest decrease occurred in Other specialised wholesale trade (-9.4%).
Productivity (value added per employed person) for the Trade sector was 49,213 euros in 2024, with an increase of 5.3% compared to the previous year.
The activity groups with the highest productivity were Wholesale trade of household goods (87,705 euros), and Wholesale trade of information and communication technology equipment (83,246).
Meanwhile, the least productive sectors were Retail sale via stalls and markets (13,503 euros), and Retail sale of food, beverages, and tobacco in specialised stores (23,562 euros).
In 2024, 86.5% of sales in the Trade sector were within Spain, 7.4% went to other European Union countries, and 6.1% to the rest of the world.
The business groups with the highest percentage of sales outside of Spain were Wholesale of household goods and Other specialised wholesale trade (both with 21.6%).
Percentage
Investment in tangible assets carried out by the Trade Sector increased up to 14,275 million euros in 2024. A total of 49.9% of said investment was made by companies in the area of Retail trade, except motor vehicles and motorcycles, and 41.7% by Wholesale trade and commission trade, except motor vehicles and motorcycles. Investment in tangible assets represented 9.0% of the value added of the sector.
The autonomous communities with the greatest participation in turnover for the Trade Sector in the year 2024 were Madrid (24.4% of the total), Catalonia (19.4%) and Andalusia (13.0%).
In turn, those with the least weight were La Rioja (0.4%) and Cantabria (0.8%).
In terms of personnel employed, Catalonia accounted for 18.6% of total employment, Andalusia 16.5% and Madrid 16.0%.
Note: To obtain results by autonomous communities, the Local Unit whose main activity is Trade is considered a statistical unit. It is a different approach to the national data of the Retail Sector, based on the Statistical Enterprise which brings together under its main activity the economic and employment data of the legal units that form it, and which may be of another activity than the retail one.
The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEBase.
In accordance with the Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137, the INE has begun to work on incorporating the new National Classification of Economic Activities CNAE-2025 in all its statistical operations.
In the case of the Structural Business Statistics: Retail Sector: the first publication of results using CNAE-2025 will take place in 2027.
Structural Business Statistics: Trade Sector is an annual structural statistical operation aimed at companies engaged in Trade, which includes wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, wholesale trade and commission trade, and retail trade.
This operation allows us to ascertain the main structural and economic characteristics of companies in the sector under study by means of a broad set of variables relating to employed personnel, turnover and other income, purchases and consumption, personnel expenses, taxes and investments. The statistic includes economic aggregates such as the value of production and gross value added, as well as the main indicators.
More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.
Official INE account on
@es_ine