ShopperTrak report: Year-over-year retail sales surge 6% for week ending Aug. 14

Chicago A report released Wednesday by ShopperTrak found that year-over-year GAFO retail sales increased 6% for the week ending Aug. 14, while sales edged up a slight 0.8% versus the previous week ending Aug. 7.

According to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate, both year-over-year and weekly retail benefited from continued back-to-school shopping during the month of August and warmer, more seasonal weather, which spurred summer apparel spending. 

ShopperTrak said it expects sales will remain strong throughout the month and back-to-school (August) performance should equal or surpass the 3.5% sales increase and 1.4% total U.S. foot traffic decline it predicted leading into August.

“As always, our historical data showed August would be a relatively strong month as pent up demand for back-to-school items fueled spending -- which has been the case up to last week,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “Additionally, our clients are reporting the rather hot weather throughout the country has boosted purchases of seasonal items, adding a secondary sales lift so far this month. Based on this initial strong performance, we believe our original forecast for the month of August is intact, and sales could even fare better than initially reported.”