US' clothing retail sales up 35.3% YoY, 0.5% MoM in Nov: NRF

The US Census Bureau said overall retail sales in November were up 0.3 per cent seasonally adjusted from October and up 18.2 per cent year-over-year. That compares with increases of 1.8 per cent month-over-month and 16.3 per cent year-over-year in October. Despite occasional month-over-month declines, sales have grown year-over-year every month since June 2020, according to Census data.

NRF’s calculation of retail sales – which excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on core retail – showed November was unchanged from October but up 14.8 per cent unadjusted year-over-year. That compares with increases of 1.8 per cent month-over-month and 10.6 per cent year-over-year in October. NRF’s numbers were up 12.1 per cent unadjusted year-over-year on a three-month moving average.

Consumers have shopped earlier than ever this year, but NRF defines the holiday season as November 1 through December 31, so the November results mark the completion of the first half of the official season. NRF currently expects that 2021 holiday sales during the two months could grow as much as 11.5 per cent over 2020, exceeding NRF’s earlier forecast of between 8.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent growth. Even at the low end of the range, both the amount spent, and the growth rate would set new records.

For the first 11 months of the year, sales as calculated by NRF were up 14.2 per cent over the same period in 2020. That is consistent with NRF’s forecast that retail sales for the full year should grow between 10.5 and 13.5 per cent over 2020 to between $4.44 trillion and $4.56 trillion.

“Despite economic headwinds, November retail sales data confirms that consumers continue to spend, as demonstrated by a 14 per cent increase in sales year-over-year,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said. “We expect demand will remain strong through December, even though consumers started holiday shopping earlier than ever this year. Despite the rise of the omicron variant, increased vaccination rates combined with retailers’ ongoing safety protocols and procedures have resulted in consumers who feel they can continue to shop safely and conveniently. We believe that holiday sales this year could grow as much as 11.5 per cent over 2020.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)