May 2017 US Retail Sales and Traffic

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 May Retail Traffic report:

• Total US retail sales for May declined by 0.3% month over month and amounted to $473.8 billion. Results came in lower than the consensus estimate of a 0.1% decline.
• On a year-over-year basis in May, total retail sales increased by 3.8% and retail sales excluding autos also increased by 3.8%.
• Five out of 13 major store categories posted positive sales results, while two were flat compared with April. Nonstore retailers and furniture stores posted the largest month-over-month increases, of 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively.
• According to RetaliNext, a number of in-store metrics were negative in May, but showed a slight improvement from previous months. Sales were down 5.5% year over year, the smallest decline in the last six months.In-store traffic fell by (6.1)% in May year over year, but the decline was lower than that seen in most recent months.