August 2018 US Retail Sales and Traffic: Clothing Retailers Shine while Store Traffic and Sales Continue to Decline

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 August Retail Traffic report:

• Total US retail sales increased by 6.2% on a year-over-year basis in August, according to the US Census Bureau.
• Retail sales increased marginally by 0.1% month over month in August, on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
• Changes in store-based sales and traffic remained negative in August. While conversion rate remained marginally positive, average transaction value declined (1.3%) for the first time in five months whereas return rates declined slightly (0.1%), according to RetailNext. Retail traffic declined 5.4% year over year during August.