May Retail Sales Grow, NRF Report Shows
Year-over-year retail sales were up more than 3% in May driven in part by job growth and continued wage gains, the National Retail Federation reported in its CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor
Total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, were up 1.35% seasonally adjusted month-over-month and up 3.03% unadjusted year-over-year in May, according to Retail Monitor. That compared with an increase of 0.26% month-over-month and a decrease of 0.6% year-over-year in April.
“Consumers have retained their ability to spend and are driving solid economic growth,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF. “Spending is being supported by the job market and real wage gains. Inflation remains stubborn but is almost entirely in services rather than retail goods. May’s year-over-year gains are in line with what we saw earlier this year, and the month-over-month increases are the largest in more than a year. We believe this underscores that April’s moderation was an outlier.”
Total sales were up 2.13% year-over-year for the first five months of the year and core sales were up 2.48%. The month-over-month gains were the highest since April 2023, when total sales were up 1.13% and core sales were up 1.27%.
Unlike survey-based numbers collected by the Census Bureau, the Retail Monitor uses actual, anonymized credit and debit card purchase data compiled by Affinity Solutions and does not need to be revised monthly or annually.
May sales were up in five out of nine retail categories on a yearly basis, led by online sales, health and personal care stores, and clothing and accessory stores. Sales were up in all but three categories on a monthly basis. Specifics from key sectors include:
- Online and other non-store sales were up 2.09% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 17.91% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Health and personal care stores were up 1.29% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 6.86% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Clothing and accessories stores were up 1.44% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 6.24% year-over-year unadjusted.
- General merchandise stores were up 1.31% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 4.89% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Grocery and beverage stores were up 1.97% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 2.53% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Building and garden supply stores were down 0.6% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and down 0.53% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Sporting goods, hobby, music, and bookstores were up 1.04% month-over-month seasonally adjusted but down 0.71% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Electronics and appliance stores were down 0.05% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and down 0.87% year-over-year unadjusted.
- Furniture and home furnishings stores were down 0.14% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and down 3.21% year-over-year unadjusted.
