February 2019 US Retail Sales: Slowdown Seen Across Sectors with Major Softening in Home-Improvement

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 February US Retail Sales Report:

• Total retail sales excluding gasoline and automobiles increased 2.7% year over year in February, a substantial slowing from the revised 4.9% year-over-year increase in January.
• In February, six out of 12 major sectors saw a sequential slowing in year-over-year growth, while four sectors saw sales decline year over year.
• The home-improvement sector saw growth slow dramatically, to 1.4% in February from 9.8% in January. Electronics and appliance retailers posted a decline of 3.1%, worsening from a 1.7% fall in January. In February, nonstore retailers saw sales rise 10.0% year over year, marginally lower than the 10.7% reported in January.