Retail sales drop in August after strong July

21 Oct '05

3 min read

Spending in retail stores fell by 0.3% to $31.2 billion in
August. This followed strong sales increases of 1.4% in
July and 1.3% in June.

August's decline represented only the fourth month of falling sales for retailers since the start of 2004.

Retail sales grew by an impressive 12.7% over these last 20 months. Prior to January 2004, retailers suffered four consecutive monthly sales declines at the end of 2003, after generally experiencing rising sales since the fall of 2001.

Once prices are taken into account, constant dollar retail sales dropped 1.0% in August, as consumers faced higher prices for gasoline and motor vehicles.

Previously, retail sales, adjusted for price changes, rose
by 1.1% in July and 1.2% in June.

Excluding sales by dealers of new, used and recreational vehicles and auto parts, retail sales advanced by a marginal 0.2% in August, after increasing by 0.7% in July and 0.3% in June.

Retailers in the general merchandise, clothing and miscellaneous sectors have generally experienced falling sales in the last four months, while spending in the furniture and electronics, building supplies and food and beverage sectors has flattened.

In August, five of the eight retail sectors experienced
lower sales.

Shoppers reduced their spending by at least 2.0% in the miscellaneous (-2.8%) and clothing (-2.0%) sectors. Shoppers also cut down on their purchases in the general merchandise(-0.5%), food and beverage (-0.5%) and automotive (-0.4%) sectors.

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