Dutch sporting goods retailers suffered a sales decline of 2.1 percent in the third quarter as compared to the same period of 2012, according to the retail panel conducted by INRetail. The number of transactions went up by 5.5 percent, but with a 3.6 percent drop in the average amount spent. Small increases in average spending during the months of July and August were followed by a big drop of 6.9 percent in September. The increase of the Dutch VAT to 21 percent in October 2012 has apparently had an impact on consumption.

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