Posted on July - 15 - 2010
U.S. retail sales slide for second month in row
As reported by the Census Bureau today, U.S. total retail sales slid 0.5% in June versus May. This was the second month of decline in a row, after they slipped 1.1% in May. In the first four months of this year, they did nothing but advance.
Year-over-year retail sales were most recently strongest in April 2010 at +8.7%. In June, they were still a quite respectable +4.8% versus June of last year.
In current-dollar-volume terms, U.S. total retail sales now stand almost exactly halfway between their pre-recession high in November 2007 and their most recent low in December 2008.
The transportation sector has been accounting for much of the recent weakness. Sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers were -2.3% month to month in June and gasoline sales were -2.0%.
Year-over-year sales in those two categories were still elevated, however, at +6.8% and +8.8% respectively.
The April 30 end to the first-time homebuyer tax credit had an impact on some residential-related retail sales. Furniture and home furnishing store sales were -1.1% month to month and building material and garden equipment supplier sales were -1.0%.
The foregoing mainly describes traditional brick and mortar retail outlets. The health of these locations is important for the construction industry, since new investments result in facilities expansions.
However, there is a new and consistently growing segment of retail trade. It’s located in cyberspace and consists of purchases made over the Internet.
U.S. non-store retail sales in June were 8.2% of the total. While this may seem like a still small percentage, the actual dollars exceeded many of the other major sub-categories – e.g. building material stores, electronic and furniture stores combined, and clothing and accessory outlets – and was nearly at the same level as gasoline station sales.
Furthermore, unlike most other sub-categories, non-store retail sales were positive month to month (+1.0%). This helped them achieve a noteworthy year-over-year gain of +12.0%.
This trend of non-store retail sales outperforming traditional merchandisers is expected to continue well into the future.
U.S. retail sales – Three months smoothed
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