Retail Sales Up Six Percent in June from Last Year

Posted by Karen Erdelac on Jul 18, 2013

Experts say an improving job market is one of the factors that helped drive a 5.7 percent year-over-year increase in retail and food services sales between June 2012 and June of this year. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that retail and food services sales rose from $399.9 billion in June of last year to $422.8 billion last month. 

Non-store retailers, motor vehicle and parts dealers, and building material, garden equipment, and supplies dealers experienced particularly strong sales growth during that time. Retail and food services sales also were up 0.4 percent from the $421.2 billion reported in May. Furniture and home furnishings stores posted the biggest increase in sales between May and June.

The Conference Board's Kathy Bostjancic says the brighter jobs picture is fueling increased consumer confidence, which in turn is spurring higher levels of spending. She notes that consumer spending is likely to pick up even more over the rest of the summer due to pent up demand from consumers who are shifting their focus away from paying off debt and toward replacing older items that they own. She says the higher levels of consumer spending could continue into the holiday shopping season.

Topics: Growing Your Business, Ecommerce