Deep Dive: Retail Spending Review—Breaking Down Retail Sales in the US, the UK, Germany and China

Executive Summary

• Of these countries, the US sees clothing and footwear capture the smallest share of retail sales. The category accounted for only 10.9% of US retail sales in 2016, which
  was down from 11.7% in 2012.
• Apparel enjoyed a strong run in the UK for several years, growing its share of retail sales until 2016, when the category entered a relative decline.
• The share of retail spending captured by food and beverages has fallen significantly in the US and the UK in recent years.
• These US and UK trends show that consumer shifts in spending away from nondiscretionary and semidiscretionary categories in favor of discretionary categories are not unique to developing economies such as China.
• Similarly, soft demand for retail categories such as apparel in the US and the UK is not simply about consumers switching to spending on leisure services, as relative declines are observable even when these categories are measured only
  against other retail categories.