Two busy holiday shopping days at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend — which fell within the month of December — helped boost retail sales results for the year’s final month, according to the latest CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor.
“Growth rebounded strongly in December from a misleadingly weaker November as the result of the final two days of the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend being included in December’s data,” National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay says in a news release. “Calendar issues aside, value-conscious customers showed enthusiasm for celebrating loved ones with the right gifts at the right price points for their budgets in December. Households are in good financial shape amid low unemployment, growing income and continued deceleration of inflation for goods. We remain confident in our 2024 holiday forecast and retail sales projection for the year.”
The Retail Monitor says total retail sales (excluding automobiles and gasoline) climbed 1.74% seasonally adjusted on a month-over-month basis and rose 7.24% unadjusted year-over-year in December. That compared with increases of 0.15% MoM and 2.35% YoY in November.
Meanwhile, core retail sales (excluding restaurants, in addition to auto dealers and gas stations) rose 2.19% MoM in December and 8.41% YoY. That compared with a decrease of 0.19% month over month and an increase of 1.43% year over year in November.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday both fell in December rather than November because of the later-than-usual Thanksgiving last year.
Online sales, clothing and accessories stores, as well as electronics and appliances stores, led the way in December sales, which were up across the board on a yearly basis. Sales rose in eight of nine categories. Key sectors include:
Online and other non-store sales: +4.49% MoM seasonally adjusted; +33.05% YoY unadjusted.
Clothing and accessories stores: +4.07% MoM seasonally adjusted; +14.47% YoY unadjusted.
Electronics and appliance stores: +3.25% MoM seasonally adjusted; +10.23% YoY unadjusted.
General merchandise stores: +3.24% MoM seasonally adjusted; +9.77% YoY unadjusted.
Sporting goods, hobby, music and bookstores: +3.81% MoM seasonally adjusted; +7.43% YoY unadjusted.
Health and personal care stores: +1.85% MoM seasonally adjusted; +6.98% YoY unadjusted.
Furniture and home furnishings stores: +0.84% MoM seasonally adjusted; +5.34% YoY unadjusted.
Grocery and beverage stores: +0.59% MoM seasonally adjusted; +4.27% YoY unadjusted.
Building and garden supply stores: -0.09% MoM seasonally adjusted; +0.85% YoY unadjusted.
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.