November 2018 US Retail Sales and Traffic: Retail Sales Growth Slows and Traffic Declines Significantly

Executive Summary

Coresight Research’s monthly reports keep you up to date on US and UK retail sales, US retail traffic and in-store metrics, selected US retailers’ same-store sales and key global consumer indicators. Click here to view our full collection of Monthly Reports.

Our US Monthly Retail Sales and Traffic Report reviews year-over-year changes in selected store-based metrics, including sales, traffic and conversion rates.

Highlights from our November Retail Traffic report:

• Total US retail sales including automobiles and gasoline increased 4.0% on a year-over-year basis in November, according to the US Census Bureau. This was slower growth compared to October’s 4.5% year-over-year growth.
• Retail sales increased 0.3% month over month in November, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
• Growth in store-based sales and traffic remained negative in November. While the conversion rate grew 0.4% following two months of decline,average transaction value grew 3.2%,the largest increase since December 2016. Retail traffic declined 8.3% year over year during November.
• Nonstore retailers registered year-over-year sales growth of 10.8%.
• Black Friday (November 23) registered the best performance in the month for sales, traffic, average transaction value and number of transactions. Cyber Monday (November 26) recorded the best performance for conversion rates and shopper yield.That said, the Black Friday weekend showed a 7.6% decline in sales and a 7.1% decline in traffic, according to RetailNext.