Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey, second quarter 2015
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Released: 2015-10-14
Retail sales increased 2.2% from the second quarter of 2014 to $135.5 billion in the second quarter. Higher sales in 8 of the 10 major commodity groups were tempered by lower sales of automotive fuels, oils and additives.
Automotive fuels, oils and additive sales fell 15.7% in the second quarter, the commodity grouping's third consecutive decline. Automotive fuels (-16.1%) accounted for the bulk of the decline, with continued lower prices at the pump.
Automotive fuels accounted for 9.5 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores in the second quarter, down more than 2 cents from the same quarter in 2014. This resulted in a higher share of the retail dollar for most other commodity groups.
Chart 1
Total retail spending on automotive fuels in the second quarter
The largest contributor to the gain in retail sales came from a 7.0% increase in sales of motor vehicles, parts and services. For the second consecutive quarter, the sales growth of used automotive vehicles (+11.7%) outpaced that of new automotive vehicles (+5.5%). Sales of new trucks, vans, mini-vans, sport utility vehicles and buses (+9.3%) accounted for the gain, more than offsetting the decline from new cars (-1.2%).
Sales of food and beverages rose 3.5%, led by price-induced gains in fresh meat and poultry (+7.0%) and fresh fruits and vegetables (+5.4%). Food and beverages stores continued to see their share of sales for food erode, falling from 77.8% in the second quarter of 2014 to 76.7% in the second quarter of 2015.
Receipts of hardware and home renovation products grew 8.5%. Products typically associated with home building and renovation, such as lumber and other building products (+10.5%) and plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical equipment (+15.8%) led the gains.
Sales of clothing, footwear and accessories rose 5.3% from the same quarter a year earlier. Higher sales of women's clothing and accessories (+5.6%) and footwear (+5.8%) were the largest contributors to the advance. Clothing and clothing accessories stores saw their market share of sales for clothing grow 0.8% to 67.6% in the second quarter, mainly at the expense of general merchandisers.
Retail sales of health and personal care products grew 4.9% year over year. Prescription drug sales (+4.6%) accounted for over half of the growth.
Note to readers
The Retail Commodity Survey collects data on national level retail sales by commodity, from a sub-sample of businesses in the Monthly Retail Trade Survey. Quarterly data have not been adjusted for seasonality. For example, no adjustment has been made for Easter, which occurred at the start of the second quarter of 2015 but took place later in the second quarter in 2014. All percentage changes are year over year.
Contact information
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