U.S. retail sales register three consecutive months of growth

New York – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Retail Sales Report tracks sales across 13 retail sectors. Since falling by 14.7 percent in April – the largest monthly decline in recorded history – retail sales have surged non-stop for three consecutive months.

Monthly retail sales in May and June rose by 18.3 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. In July, retail sales increased by 1.2 percent from June and have gained 2.7 percent from July 2019.

While July’s 1.2 percent increase was below Wall Street’s forecast of a 2 percent gain, monthly retail sales for that month totalled 536 billion dollars, which constitutes a new all-time record for sales in a single month. Data from this report shows that July’s total was higher than the prior record of 529.6 billion dollars from last January, before the pandemic reached global magnitude.

In July, nine of 13 retail sectors reported gains in monthly sales, with Clothing & Clothing Accessories Stores rising by 5.7 percent. The biggest year-to-date gain has been among Non-Store Retailers, which primarily consist of online retailers. This segment has experienced a sales increase of 23.4 percent from January to July.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was the Clothing & Clothing Accessories Stores segment, which registered the biggest year-to-date decline in retail sales (21.2 percent dip).