According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), December retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants, decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and 4.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year. The significant drop in gasoline prices for the month of December brought down much of the month-to-month growth.
Total holiday retail sales, which include November and December sales, increased 4 percent to $616.1 billion, which was in line with NRF’s projected forecast of 4.1 percent growth. In addition, non-store holiday sales, which is an indicator of online and e-commerce sales, grew 6.8 percent to $101.9 billion.
The U.S. Commerce Department, which does include gasoline, said on Wednesday that December retail sales decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 3.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year.
