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Retail sales rose in October as early holiday shopping began

The sales bump was a "good early step forward" for the season, NRF's chief economist said.
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Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

As consumers entered the holiday shopping season, retail sales in October rose 0.4% from the previous month to $718.9 billion, a year over year jump of 2.3%, the Commerce Department reported on Friday, an increase that slightly beat analyst expectations. Excluding motor vehicle and gasoline sales, retail sales rose 0.1% from last month and 3.8% from October 2023.

The Commerce Department last month reported September sales rose 0.4% month over month, but upwardly revised the increase to 0.8% this week.

“October sales were a good early step forward into the holiday shopping season, which is now fully underway,” National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a statement. “Falling energy prices have likely provided extra dollars for household spending on retail merchandise.”

Category close-up: Electronic and appliance stores saw the biggest monthly gain, with sales up 2.3% (perhaps due to the giant TV trend?). Food and beverage stores notched 0.1% monthly and 2.7% year over year growth, while general merchandise stores got a 0.2% monthly and 3.1% annual bump (though department store sales dipped 0.2% month over month and were flat from last year). Online retail sales also rose 0.3% from September and had the greatest annual gain of 7%.

Health and personal care stores (up 1.6% YoY) and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, and book stores (down 3.4% YoY) both saw monthly 1.1% sales dips. Clothing and clothing accessories stores dropped 0.2%, but were up 2.9% from last year. And after a banner September—when they got a 4% month over month boost—miscellaneous store retailers’ sales dropped 1.6%, but still had a 4% YoY boost.

Price to pay: Consumer prices, meanwhile, rose 0.2% month over month and 2.6% YoY, up from the 2.4% annual increase in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week. National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said in the statement that the return to near pre-pandemic levels of inflation was a “hard-fought recovery.”

Five of the six major grocery categories saw higher prices; the exception was meats, poultry, fish, and eggs dropping 1.2% (eggs fell 6.4%). Across other categories: prices for apparel and appliances fell, while footwear, furniture, and personal care products rose.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.