Report: Week-over-week retail sales fall 19.9%

Chicago ShopperTrak announced Tuesday that its National Retail Sales Estimate recorded year-over-year retail sales for the week ending April 18 declined 11.5%, while weekly sales fell 19.9% compared with the previous week ending April 11.

As anticipated, the Easter holiday influenced both weekly and yearly GAFO sales performance last week as holiday shopping came to a close.

As well, the 2009 calendar shift, which moved Easter to April as opposed to March last year, caused a soft year-over-year comparison, essentially comparing a six-day week to a full week in 2008 due to very little shopping on Easter Sunday.

“The rather poor performance we saw last week really wasn’t that surprising or alarming for retailers as this is annually a slow period for the industry,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.