“Deflating pricing in retail continues to aggravate measurements of spending in June. Consumers continue to make purchases, but total sales reflects depressed prices on the volume of goods purchased”, commented NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz, adding: “Nonetheless, consumer fundamentals remain solid, with no expectations for spending to cool off in the remaining summer months. Sales in June were driven by online and other non-store sales, which posted a 0.4% increase seasonally adjusted over May and increased by 9.9% unadjusted year-over-year. Overall retail sales increased by 3.9% on a three-month moving average year-over-year, while sales at clothing and accessories stores decreased by 0.1% seasonally adjusted from May and increased 1% unadjusted year-over-year. Sporting goods stores’ sales decreased by 0.6% seasonally adjusted from May and decreased by 7.7 % unadjusted year-over-year.
