Sales growth of smaller retailers lag industry

Purchase, N.Y. -- A report released Wednesday by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard in partnership with Wells Fargo, found that spending at small retailers in October slowed to an increase of 4.2% year over year, down from a 5.8% growth rate in September.



This was the slowest year-over-year growth rate for smaller retailers in 2012, falling below the growth rate of total U.S. retail sales by one percentage point.



The October report also found that when gasoline sales are removed, the year-over-year sales growth rate dipped to 3.6%. Michael McNamara, global solutions leader, MasterCard SpendingPulse, said, “This was the first time the small retailer sales year-over-year growth rate has lagged behind overall retail sales growth since September 2011. However, thanks to the fairly strong performance of smaller retailers for the first nine months of the year, on a year-to-date basis, small retailers continue to outperform overall total retail sales excluding auto.”



On a year-to-date basis, the sales growth rate excluding auto for small retailers is 7.4% from January through October 2012, compared with a 5.6% growth rate for retail overall during the same time period.