Retail Sales in United States
In the year 2024, the retail sales in United States was 2.60%, compared to 4.20% in 2014 and 3.53% in 2023. It averaged 5.06% over the last decade.
United States Retail Chart
Note: This chart displays Retail Sales (ann. var. %) for United States from 2014 to 2024.
Source: Macrobond.
United States Retail Data
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Sales (ann. var. %) | 0.7 | 18.1 | 9.1 | 3.5 | 2.6 |
Retail sales growth loses pace in April
Latest reading: Retail sales expanded 0.1% month-on-month in seasonally adjusted terms in April (March: +1.7% mom), a month which saw the U.S. impose a 10% tariff on many foreign goods and far higher levies on China. The reading was slightly above market expectations. However, core retail sales—which exclude volatiles like cars and fuel—shrank and undershot market expectations. On an annual basis, retail sales increased 5.2% in April, matching March’s expansion. Meanwhile, annual average retail sales growth rose to 3.5% in April (March: +3.3%).
Panelist insight: Digging deeper into the latest data, TD Economics’ Ksenia Bushmeneva said: “Retail sales were little changed in April, but the easing in activity comes on the heels of a surge in March as consumers rushed to front-load purchases ahead of anticipated tariffs. There continued to be some evidence of this front-loading in April, with auto sales remaining at elevated levels, and consumers still purchasing large ticket items like furniture, electronics, and building materials. Households also showed a continued willingness to spend on discretionary items, as evidenced by another month of strong growth in bar and restaurant sales. While increased spending on goods—particularly cars – can be attributed to efforts to get ahead of potential tariff-related price hikes, robust spending on services like dining out suggests that consumer spending remains relatively resilient, despite downbeat sentiment.”
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects American retail projections for the next ten years from a panel of 4 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable retail forecast available for American retail.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our American retail projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of American retail forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
Latest Global Retail News
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United States: Retail sales growth loses pace in April Latest reading: Retail sales expanded 0.1% month-on-month in seasonally adjusted terms in April (March: +1.7% mom), a month which saw...