March Retail Sales Grow, Numerator Report Shows

Nearly all retail channels see modest month-over-month growth in March with general merchandise stores leading the way.
Greg Sleter
Associate Publisher/Executive Editor
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The year’s first quarter ended with most channels of distribution seeing gains in sales, according to Numerator's Retail Sales Report.

According to the report, projected retail sales (excluding motor vehicle & parts and gasoline stations) were $514 billion in March 2023, up 1.2% from the previous month and up 7.6% compared with March 2022 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

On a month-over-month basis, only health and personal care stores saw a decline, down 1.9% from February but up 4.2% year-over-year seasonally adjusted.

Segments seeing the largest year-over-year seasonally adjusted increase in March were food service & drinking places up 13.6%, non-store retailers up 10.3%, and general merchandise stores up 8.8%. The largest month-over-month increases on a seasonally adjusted basis were general merchandise stores up 3.9%; sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores up 3.1%; and miscellaneous store retailers up 2.4%.

The Numerator Retail Sales Report is produced and published by Numerator under the leadership of Numerator Chief Economist, Dr. Leo Feler. The report uses Numerator’s first-party and real-time consumer data, aligned with the methodology the US Census Bureau uses for its Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services report.

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