Retail sales saw a significant increase in May, with notable gains both month over month and year over year, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, powered by Affinity Solutions. The data was released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF).
“Consumers have clearly retained their ability to spend and are driving solid economic growth,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “Spending is being supported by the job market and real wage gains. Inflation remains stubborn but is almost entirely in services rather than retail goods. May’s year-over-year gains are in line with what we saw earlier this year, and the month-over-month increases are the largest in more than a year. We believe this underscores that April’s moderation was an outlier.”
The Retail Monitor reported that total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, rose 1.35% seasonally adjusted month over month and 3.03% unadjusted year over year in May. This contrasts with April's figures which showed a 0.26% increase month over month and a 0.6% decrease year over year.
Core retail sales, which exclude restaurants as well as automobiles and gasoline, increased by 1.2% month over month in May and 2.88% year over year. In comparison, April saw a 0.4% increase month over month and a slight decrease of 0.05% year over year.
For the first five months of the year, total sales were up 2.13% year over year while core sales increased by 2.48%. The monthly gains were the highest since April 2023 when total sales grew by 1.13% and core sales by 1.27%.
Unlike survey-based numbers collected by the Census Bureau, the Retail Monitor uses actual anonymized credit and debit card purchase data compiled by Affinity Solutions, which does not require monthly or annual revisions.
May's retail performance showed yearly increases in five out of nine categories, led by online sales, health and personal care stores, and clothing and accessory stores. Monthly increases were seen in all but three categories.
As a leading authority for the retail industry, NRF provides monthly data on retail sales along with forecasts for key periods such as the holiday season.
