Two surveys of store sales show the first two consecutive weeks of week-over-week sales increases.
Retail store sales rose 0.6% for the week ended April 4 over the prior week, the second consecutive week-over-week gain, according to the “Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot” reported today by the International Council of Shopping Centers and investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Sales for the week were down 0.3% from the prior year after accounting for the Easter calendar shift, a significant improvement from 1.4% decreases in the weeks ended March 14 and March 21. The year-over-year decline for the week ended March 28 was 0.2%.
“As the fiscal month wrapped up, sales continued uneven by type of retail segment with some pullback at discounters, but dollar stores appeared stronger,” says Michael P. Niemira, ICSC chief economist. “Overall sales continued to contract on a year-over-year basis, but showed some modest improvement on a week-over-week basis. For March, ICSC Research anticipates sales will be flat to down 1% on a year-over-year basis.”
Meanwhile, ShopperTrak reported today that retail sales for the week ended April 4 were up 0.2%, following a 0.6% increase the previous week. It was the first time this year that ShopperTrak registered two consecutive weeks of increases in store sales of general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby items, books and other related store sales, a category known as GAFO.
“However slight, two weeks of year-over-year sales increases should been seen as positive for retailers, although our data suggests this trend most likely won’t continue throughout April,” says Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “We expect GAFO retail sales will post gains this week as shopping activity peaks for Easter, then the following week ending April 18 will experience losses as the period contains Easter Sunday, a day with very little shopping.”
There was also a ray of economic hope today in a national poll released today by the New York Times and CBS News. The poll shows 34% think the economy is getting worse, compared with 54% just before Barack Obama was inaugurated as president in January, and 20% think the economy is getting better, versus 7% in mid-January.
The poll also found 70% of respondents were at least somewhat worried that a member of their household would be out of work and looking for a job in the next year, 40% said they had cut spending on luxuries, 10% said they cut spending on necessities, and 31% said they cut spending on both. The survey was conducted Wednesday through Sunday.
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