Retail sales remained virtually unchanged over the past month, reports the U.S. Census Bureau. In its advanced estimates for the retail and food services industries, sales figures for July 2022 were $682.8 billion — seeing no lift from June.
The figure does represent an upward trend for 2022, with July marking a 10.3 percent improvement over July 2021. Summer sales also represent positive growth over last year. For May 2022 through July 2022, numbers are up 9.2 percent from the same period in 2021.
While retail trade sales were virtually unchanged from June to July, the period again marked a 10.1 percent climb over last year. Shoppers cautious on discretionary spending saw clothing accessories sales decrease 0.6 percent from June, and an increase of 2.3 percent compared with July 2021, ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>according to Yahoo.
It’s important to note the Census Bureau’s retail sales report is not adjusted for inflation, which accounts for some of the year-over-year gains. The report also follows Target Corp.’s (Minneapolis) second quarter filing, which reported profits falling 90 percent from a year ago.