ARLINGTON, Va.—Total retail sales surged 5.3% in January after declining 1% in December and 1.3% in November. Of note, the December number was revised down 0.3% percentage points.
“The pandemic may have upset the typical seasonality of the holiday shopping season, but sales were still up over 7% versus January 2020. Gains were broad as every segment advanced during the month,” said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long. “Sales at non-store retailers such as Amazon increased by 11% during the month, while restaurant and bar sales improved by 6.9%. Stimulus checks clearly played a large role in the January sales surge, but so too did rapidly declining COVID cases.”
Year-over-year growth in retail sales was up 7.4% during the month, up from 2.5% in December. Control group sales were also up from a year ago, rising 6.5%, according to federal data.
Results among the major retail segments were very positive. Compared to the last month, electronics sales rose 14.7%. Furniture stores sales improved 12%, non-store retailer sales were up 11%, and sporting goods store sales rose 8%. Department store sales were extremely strong, rising 23.5% on the month, and down only 3% from a year ago, Long said.
“Looking ahead, NAFCU expects some unevenness in sales due to the timing of stimulus payments, but as long as COVID cases continue to abate, the outlook remains positive,” concluded Long.