Core retail sales fall 0.4% in November; show strong year over year growth
Core retail sales edged down in November amid a late Thanksgiving that saw Cyber Monday fall in December.
Retail sales (excluding restaurants, auto dealers and gas stations) fell 0.04% month over month in November, but were up 4.66% year over year, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. That compared with increases of 0.6% month over month and 4.89% year over year in October.
Total retail sales (Including restaurants but excluding automobile dealers and gasoline stations) rose 0.12% month over month in November and were and were up 4.53%.. That compared with increases of 0.6% month over month and 5% year over year in October.
Total sales rose 5.06% year over year for the first 11 months of the year and core sales were up 5.22%.
“Shoppers looking for online deals may have held back a bit until Cyber Monday, which landed in December due to a late Thanksgiving, likely shifting some spending,” said NRF president Matthew Shay. “We remain confident in our 2025 holiday forecast as well as our retail sales projections for the full year.”
The NRF is forecasting that 2025 holiday sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 will increase between 3.7% and 4.2% compared with 2024 to over $1 trillion.
November sales were were down in six out of nine categories on a monthly basis, but up in all but one category on a yearly basis, led by digital products, sporting goods stores and clothing stores.
Specifics from key sectors are below.
•Digital products (such as electronic books and games) were down 0.37% month over month but up 14.81% year over year.
•Sporting goods, hobby, music and book stores were up 0.28% month over month and up 8.96% year over year.
•Clothing and accessories stores were down 0.04% month over month but up 8.16% year over year.
•Grocery and beverage stores were up 0.74% month over month and up 3.89% year over year.
•General merchandise stores were down 0.73% month over month but up 3.1% year over year.
•Health and personal care stores were down 0.19% month over month but up 1.31% year over year.
•Electronics and appliance stores were down 2.94% month over month but up 1.01% year over year.
•Furniture and home furnishings stores were up 0.01% month over month and up 0.53% year over year.
•Building and garden supply stores were down 1.74% month over month and down 9.38% year over year.
Unlike survey-based numbers collected by the Census Bureau, the Retail Monitor uses actual, anonymized credit and debit card purchase data compiled by Affinity Solutions and does not need to be revised monthly or annually.
