NRF: November Retail Sales Up 6 Percent Over Last Year

Retailers received some awesome news on Thursday as the National Retail Federation reported that November retail sales were up 6 percent over last year. Additionally, month-over-month, sales were up 0.9 percent over October, according to NRF. Growth was driving (as we've been saying for quite some time now) by the exceptional performance of online sales. According to NRF, online and other non-store sales grew 10.5 percent over last year.

All NRF sales total exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants.

“This has been an impressive start to the holiday season, perhaps the best in the last few years,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a statement. “The combination of job and wage gains, modest inflation and a heathy balance sheet along with elevated consumer confidence has led to solid holiday spending by American households.”

Specifically looking at the consumer electronics segment, NRF reported that electronics and appliance store sales were up 2.1 percent over October and up 7.3 percent over the same period last year.

This is tremendous news for the retail industry and CE retail in general as we approach the end of the holiday shopping season and prepare to turn to 2018. Our own DS Index showed that, heading into December, CE retailer confidence increased at a drastic pace, putting together the single-best month-over-month increase in the survey's history. What’s also encouraging to note is that the confidence score, in just three months, has more than erased the hole it sank into over the summer and into the early Fall months. On a year-over-year basis, the December confidence score (199.175) is actually more than 7 points higher than it was in December of 2016.

“Today’s report is indicative of a strong consumer who is confident about the current and future state of the economy,” Kleinhenz said. “The improved willingness to spend and the purchasing power of consumers will continue to be an economic driver of growth into 2018.”