January sales report isn't all bad

The numbers weren’t great, but when you factor in the strength of January, the advance monthly sales report released this week by the U.S Census Bureau had its bright spots.

Chief among the highlights for the home channel was the 3.6%  increase in the year-over-year gain in January sales for retailers classified as building material & garden equipment and suppliers dealers (NAICS 444).

Of the 18 major retail categories tracked, only five outperformed NAICS 444 category on a year-over-year basis, according to the report. Leading all retail in December was the digital category of non-store retailers, up 10.2% over a year ago.

The full year 2017 also produced a gain. The 12 months combined for $378.4 billion in NAICS sales, up from $350.5 billion in the prior year. That’s an increase of about 8%.

The January sales dollar amount advance estimate for NAICS 444, which includes building material dealers, home cents and hardware stores, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, was $31.9 billion.

Compared to December, however, January’s NAICS 444 figure declined 2.4%.

Across the board, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January 2018, , were $492.0 billion, a decrease of 0.3% from the previous month, but 3.6% above January 2017.

At the National Retail Federation, the message was clear optimism, supported by the strength of December’s holiday sales, and the difficulty for January to keep up. The overall decline of 0.3% was seen as a victory.

“These numbers reinforce a positive start to 2018 that reflects ongoing consumer optimism brought about by solid economic fundamentals,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “Consumer spending continues to grow at a steady pace and is showing year-over-year increases across almost all retail sectors.