Retail sales climb more than 3% in May

Overall retail sales jumped 3.03% in May, compared with a year ago, according to the latest report from CNBC and the National Retail Federation.

The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor also found seasonally adjusted growth of 1.35% on a monthly basis, the highest monthly gains in more than a year.

The grocery and beverage sector had May 2024 sales gains of 2.53% vs. a year ago and 1.97% on a monthly basis, following a monthly decline of 1.11% in April. The pressure on April sales was likely due to the early Easter holiday this year, the report noted. April also had two fewer weekend days in 2024.

May sales were up in five out of nine retail categories on a yearly basis, led by online sales, health and personal care stores, and clothing and accessory stores.

“Consumers have clearly retained their ability to spend and are driving solid economic growth,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO, who said spending is being supported by the strong job market and real wage gains.

He noted that although inflation remains high, it has been concentrated in services rather than retail goods.

The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor uses anonymized credit and debit card purchase data compiled by Affinity Solutions.

In addition to the grocery sector, other sectors that grew sales in May included:

Sales at building and garden supply stores; sporting goods, hobby, music, and book stores; and electronics and appliance stores were all down less than 1% on a year-over-year basis. Furniture and home furnishings store sales were down 0.14% month over month seasonally adjusted, and down 3.21% year over year on an unadjusted basis.

Separately, NRF last week projected that spending for Father’s Day was expected to reach $22.4 billion this year, behind last year’s record of $22.9 billion. On average, those shopping for Father’s Day plan to spend $189.81 on gifts and celebrations, just shy of last year’s record of $196.23.

Among the gift categories gaining in popularity are subscription boxes. Forty-two percent of consumers said they were interested in gifting a product subscription box, up from 34% in 2019 when NRF first started asking this question.

The survey of 8,580 consumers was conducted May 1-8 by NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics.