DS Index Drives to New Heights in June

As the retail industry prepares for the long, hot summer months, consumer electronics retailers participating in the Dealerscope CE Retail Confidence Index (DS Index) continued their long hot streak of improving confidence. A month after setting a new record-high confidence score, the industry broke its record once again with a mark of 213.89 entering June. The 6-plus point bump over May can be attributed to solid improvements in product confidence levels as well as a 0.57-point increase in retailers’ confidence in their ability to drive foot traffic this month.

“I believe the U.S. is in a very strong position in the world,” one retailer commented. “I also feel that most Americans have been able to make up for many years of poor economy results.”

The most basic question asked in our monthly survey is to provide a ranking of the retailer’s confidence on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most confident. Entering June, the composite score of that question had only surpassed an 8.0 one time—last month, when the CE retail community scored an 8.08. In June, crushed that mark with an 8.43. In similar fashion, the industry has rarely seen its confidence level in the ability to drive foot traffic get past the 8.0 threshold. It only has hit that mark (an exact 8.0 score) twice before—May 2019 and way back in February 2017. Entering June, retailers achieved a confidence score of 8.57.