December retail sales rise over 4% amid careful consumer spending
In December – traditionally one of the most important months of the year for the retail industry – retail sales in the segments covered by Retail Dive rose 4.4% year over year to $335.7 billion. E-commerce surged 6.7%, according to statistics released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The reports are running about a month behind due to last year’s government shutdown.
“December is not as special as it used to be,” Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Grein said in a Tuesday research note. “Tariff fears likely encouraged consumers to buy early, buoying the secular trend that’s come with the immediacy of online purchases which has spread sales more evenly throughout the year.”
Inflation and tariff-induced price hikes also led many consumers to purchase gift cards, which get counted as retail sales when they’re redeemed rather than when they’re purchased, they said.
December retail sales rise over 4% amid careful consumer spending | Retail Dive