ShopperTrak Reports Weekly Retail Sales Up 2.8%

Chicago ShopperTrak RCT Corp.'s National Retail Sales Estimate reported that year-over-year retail sales for the week ending Aug. 23 increased 2.8%, while week-over-week sales fell 0.4% as compared to the previous week ending Aug. 16.

Week-over-week sales slightly tapered off as back-to-school promotions begin to wane and consumers started retuning to more season shopping patterns, according to ShopperTrak.

On a yearly comparison, retail sales continued to show impressive strength despite a lagging economy, posting the 27th year-over-year increase out of a possible 35 weeks so far in 2008.

“Retailers experienced a very slight weekly retail sales decrease as shoppers began slowing their back-to-school shopping trips late in the week,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “Most likely this slower performance will continue early this week, with sales and traffic picking up late in the week as consumers respond to Labor Day sales and promotions.”