Every month, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau releases its first calculation of the previous month’s retail sales. Retail Dive reports on the results for core retail segments, (minus food, auto and fuel), using year-over-year comparisons. With a boost from the back-to-school season and higher prices as tariffs fuel inflation, August retail sales in the segments covered by Retail Dive rose 5.5% year over year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce. E-commerce soared over 8%. “Consumer goods prices rose 0.5% in August, and 0.3% when excluding food and energy, suggesting a big part of the gain in sales actually stems from consumers paying higher prices rather than buying more goods last month,” Wells Fargo economists Tim Quinlan and Shannon Grein said in a research note following the government’s report. Broadly, underlying volumes rose by a scant 0.4%, “a marked deterioration from the 1.4% volume increase produced last month,” according to GlobalData research. The e-commerce surge was likely fueled by sales events last month, according to GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders. It’s notable because retail sales have been volatile month to month overall, but e-commerce has been up for 11 of the past 12 months, according to Wells Fargo.

Walmart continues expanding the availability of drone-based delivery that can arrive in as little as five minutes. The discount giant is building on a longstanding partnership with Wing, an on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google’s parent company Alphabet, to launch ultra-fast drone delivery from six Walmart Supercenter stores across metro Atlanta.  Walmart products eligible for drone delivery include grocery items, last-minute gifts, household goods and over-the-counter medicine. According to the retailer, its drone deliveries average a five-minute or less flight time.  To receive drone delivery from Walmart, eligible customers can place an order through the Wing app and, at checkout, confirm the precise delivery location on their property. Once loaded onto one of Wing’s automated drones, the order cruises at approximately 60 MPH and about 150 feet off the ground.  Upon arrival, the drone lowers the package to the ground with no assistance needed. Wing operates within FAA guidelines, flying their drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) up to a six-mile aircraft range from the store.

The U.S. advertising marketplace fell 4.6% in September vs. the same month a year ago, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, and suggesting the beginning of a new U.S. ad recession. While the June-September 2022 declines compare with healthy gains for the same months a year ago, the 2021 boom was also the beginning of downward trend (see chart above). The new monthly data comes as major agency holding company forecast units have been reaffirming double-digit growth expectations for calendar year 2022 and mid-single-digit gains for 2023, at least at this point.