April 2019 US Retail Sales: Growth Decelerates in Most Sectors with Major Slowdown in Home Improvement and Clothing Stores

Key Points

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 monthly US Retail Sales Report reviews the latest sector data published by the US Census Bureau.

Highlights from our April US Retail Sales Report:

• Total US retail sales excluding gasoline and automobiles increased 5.1% year over year in April, strengthening from the revised 0.9% year-over-year rise in March. A late Easter pulled some spending from March into April.
• Seasonally adjusted, furniture stores sales declined 3.1% year over in April, compared to a 0.4% decrease in March. The home-improvement and clothing sectors saw sales grew 1.2% and 0.2% in April, respectively, slower than 3.4% and 2.4% growth reported in March.
• In April, nonstore retailers saw sales rise 9.0% year over year, versus 11.3% in March.