RETAIL SALES DROP IN MAY

May 2015 showed a drop in retail sales by 7.6% versus May 2014. Driving the sales decline was a 9.8% decrease in store traffic and an 8.3% decrease in number of transactions.

Some metrics did show year-over-year improvement. Average transaction value rose 0.8% and sales per shopper increased 2.5%.

The highest day of selling in May was May 9, the Saturday before Mother’s Day. This day is consistently highest in sales, traffic and transaction figures. The lowest traffic and sales were at the end of the month, after the Memorial Day weekend, which was earlier on the calendar this year.

Source: Chain Store Age

Smaller Markets Drive Clothing Sales in US

Total apparel industry dollar sales grew 2% in the retail calendar year ended February 2015. However, in-store sales of apparel fell 2%. While New York and Los Angeles are the biggest US markets selling clothing, smaller regions like Orlando and Washington, DC are now the top markets for dollar volume increase for the apparel industry. Washington, DC showed in-store sales up 14%.

Both Orlando and Washington, DC generated strong sales performance both in-store and online. Online sales in the industry grew 19% overall. The top markets such as Los Angeles did grow online sales by double digits. However, in most cases the markets that are outperforming in the industry as a whole are those with greater in-store sales growth than online gains.

“The big regions are no longer leading apparel industry sales growth,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, in a statement. “When New York and Los Angeles don’t even make it into the top 10 list of DMAs driving apparel growth, we have a big opportunity gap in the market. We need to understand the cause in order for the apparel industry to regain traction moving forward.”

Source: Forbes