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ADVANCE MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES SUMMARY - December 2012
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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $415.7 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent (±0.5%)* from the previous month and 4.7 percent (±0.7%) above December 2011. Total sales for the 12 months of 2012 were up 5.2 percent (±0.6%) from 2011. Total sales for the October through December 2012 period were up 4.2 percent (±0.5%) from the same period a year ago. The October to November 2012 percent change was revised from +0.3 percent (±0.5%)* to +0.4 percent (±0.2%).
Retail trade sales were up 0.4 percent (±0.5%)* from November 2012 and 4.4 percent (±0.8%) above last year. Nonstore retailers were up 12.6 percent (±2.3%) from December 2011 and miscellaneous store retailers were up 9.9 percent (±5.6%) from last year.
The advance estimates are based on a subsample of the Census Bureau’s full retail and food services sample. A stratified random sampling method is used to select approximately 5,000 retail and food services firms whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe of over three million retail and food services firms. Responding firms account for approximately 65% of the MARTS dollar volume estimate. For an explanation of the measures of sampling variability included in this report, please see the Reliability of Estimates section on the last page of this publication.
* The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different than zero.
The Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services for January is scheduled to be released February 13, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. EST.
TABLE 1A. ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--December 2012
Estimates adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes.
(Total sales estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(2)
(In Millions of dollars)
2012 2012 2012 2011 2011
NAICS(1) Kind of Business Dec(3) Nov Oct Dec Nov
Code (a) (p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 415,695 413,582 411,997 396,974 397,370
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 337,613 336,746 337,188 324,436 325,780
Retail ....................................... 370,115 368,546 367,475 354,641 355,077
GAFO(4).......................................... (*) 99,241 99,346 98,305 98,920
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 78,082 76,836 74,809 72,538 71,590
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 71,224 69,975 67,900 65,618 64,600
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 8,165 8,050 7,968 7,697 7,579
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 8,329 8,381 8,193 8,223 8,530
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) 6,129 6,076 6,176 6,268
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) 2,252 2,117 2,047 2,262
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 24,804 24,796 24,598 24,316 23,644
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) 20,928 20,763 20,415 19,823
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 53,514 53,276 53,475 51,621 51,883
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 47,806 47,712 47,971 46,290 46,571
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) 3,775 3,747 3,648 3,670
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 23,161 22,837 22,788 22,912 22,950
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) 18,741 18,887 19,239 19,299
447 Gasoline stations................................ 45,031 45,785 47,934 44,132 44,870
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 20,301 20,099 20,049 19,319 19,270
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (S) (S) (S) (S)
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) 3,507 3,526 3,384 3,291
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) 2,424 2,362 2,341 2,340
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 7,624 7,582 7,595 6,988 7,171
452 General merchandise stores....................... 51,939 51,944 52,388 52,996 53,283
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 15,051 15,003 15,108 15,318 15,431
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(5)............... (*) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) 36,941 37,280 37,678 37,852
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) 31,948 32,205 33,038 33,199
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) 4,993 5,075 4,640 4,653
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 10,433 10,420 10,329 9,495 9,674
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 38,732 38,540 37,349 34,404 34,633
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) 30,289 29,290 26,710 26,481
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 45,580 45,036 44,522 42,333 42,293
(*) Advance estimates are not available for this kind of business.
(NA) Not available (S) Suppressed (a) Advance estimate (p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(1) For a full description of the NAICS codes used in this table, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics
(2) Estimates are concurrently adjusted for seasonal variation and for holiday and trading day differences, but not for price changes. Concurrent seasonal adjustment
uses all available unadjusted estimates as input to the X-12 ARIMA program. The factors derived from the program are used in calculating all seasonally
adjusted estimates shown in this table. Year-to-date seasonally adjusted sales estimates are not tabulated. Adjustment factors and explanatory material can be found
on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/retail
(3) Advance estimates are based on early reports obtained from a small sample of firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample.
All other estimates are from the MRTS sample.
(4) GAFO represents firms which specialize in department store types of merchandise and is comprised of furniture & home furnishings (442), electronics & appliances (443),
clothing & clothing accessories(448), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music (451), general merchandise(452), office supply, stationery, and gift stores(4532).
(5) Estimates include data for leased departments operated within department stores. Data for this line are not included in broader kind-of-business totals.
TABLE 1B. ESTIMATED MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--December 2012
Estimates not adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences and price changes.
(In Millions of dollars and Annual Percent Change)
12 month total
% Chg. 2012 2012 2012 2011 2011
NAICS(1) Kind of Business 2012 from Dec(2) Nov Oct Dec Nov
Code 2011 (a) (p) (r)
Retail & food services, total.................... 4,889,244 5.2 468,693 415,890 404,731 457,468 395,724
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts)............ 3,997,645 4.6 393,751 346,020 332,223 385,794 330,984
Retail ....................................... 4,359,641 4.9 423,022 372,926 360,654 414,458 355,969
GAFO(3).......................................... (*) (*) (*) 108,964 93,808 143,357 107,147
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... 891,599 7.9 74,942 69,870 72,508 71,674 64,740
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................. 808,500 8.6 68,660 63,187 65,184 65,093 57,946
44111 New car dealers................................ (*) (*) (*) 53,374 54,741 56,081 49,240
4413 Auto parts, acc. & tire stores.................. (*) (*) (*) 6,683 7,324 6,581 6,794
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. 95,618 7.7 9,545 8,622 7,633 9,267 8,110
4421 Furniture stores................................ (*) (*) (*) 4,314 3,873 4,376 4,185
4422 Home furnishings stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 4,308 3,760 4,891 3,925
443 Electronics & appliance stores.................... 99,161 -0.8 12,804 9,901 7,277 12,850 9,969
44311,13 Appl., T.V. & camera........................... (*) (*) (*) 7,201 5,408 9,671 7,340
44312 Computer & software stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 2,700 1,869 3,179 2,629
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 294,046 5.4 21,850 24,479 25,783 22,065 23,222
4441 Building mat. & supplies dealers................ (*) (*) (*) 20,886 22,071 18,476 19,764
445 Food & beverage stores........................... 634,343 3.3 57,683 53,531 52,850 56,466 51,730
4451 Grocery stores.................................. 568,240 3.1 49,909 47,760 47,443 49,114 46,338
4453 Beer, wine & liquor stores...................... (*) (*) (*) 3,930 3,680 4,994 3,725
446 Health & personal care stores.................... 274,940 1.0 25,222 22,380 22,948 25,387 22,468
44611 Pharmacies & drug stores........................ (*) (*) (*) 18,535 19,321 21,105 19,048
447 Gasoline stations................................ 547,113 4.0 42,239 43,862 48,317 42,058 42,312
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... 239,179 5.5 31,650 22,072 18,866 30,893 20,787
44811 Men's clothing stores........................... (*) (*) (*) 745 731 1,171 766
44812 Women's clothing stores......................... (*) (*) (*) 3,809 3,477 4,666 3,505
44814 Family clothing stores.......................... (*) (*) (*) 9,068 7,410 11,972 8,587
4482 Shoe stores..................................... (*) (*) (*) 2,453 2,138 3,214 2,326
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores....... 89,817 6.1 12,069 7,923 6,486 11,524 7,472
452 General merchandise stores....................... 632,212 0.5 72,086 57,219 50,170 74,634 57,735
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... 183,029 -1.0 25,652 18,153 13,941 26,541 18,244
4521 Department stores (incl. L.D.)(4)............... (*) (*) (*) 18,453 14,161 26,952 18,551
4529 Other general merchandise stores................ (*) (*) (*) 39,066 36,229 48,093 39,491
45291 Warehouse clubs & supercenters................. (*) (*) (*) 33,609 31,271 41,694 34,461
45299 All other gen. merchandise stores.............. (*) (*) (*) 5,457 4,958 6,399 5,030
453 Miscellaneous store retailers.................... 122,083 7.6 11,766 10,255 10,850 10,974 9,487
454 Nonstore retailers............................... 439,530 11.6 51,166 42,812 36,966 46,666 37,937
4541 Electronic shopping & mail-order houses......... (*) (*) (*) 34,257 28,792 37,768 29,606
722 Food services & drinking places.................. 529,603 7.3 45,671 42,964 44,077 43,010 39,755
(*) Advance estimates are not available for this kind of business.
(NA) Not available (a) Advance estimate (p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(1) For a full description of the NAICS codes used in this table, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics
(2) Advance estimates are based on early reports obtained from a small sample of firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample.
All other estimates are from the MRTS sample.
(3) GAFO represents firms which specialize in department store types of merchandise and is comprised of furniture & home furnishings (442), electronics & appliances (443),
clothing & clothing accessories(448), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music (451), general merchandise(452), office supply, stationery, and gift stores(4532).
(4) Estimates include data for leased departments operated within department stores. Data for this line are not included in broader kind-of-business totals.
TABLE 2A. ESTIMATED CHANGE IN SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--December 2012
Estimates adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey,
Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(*)
Dec Nov
2012 2012
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Nov Dec Oct Nov
Code 2012 2011 2012 2011
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +0.5 +4.7 +0.4 +4.1
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +0.3 +4.1 -0.1 +3.4
Retail .................................. +0.4 +4.4 +0.3 +3.8
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... +1.6 +7.6 +2.7 +7.3
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers............... +1.8 +8.5 +3.1 +8.3
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. +1.4 +6.1 +1.0 +6.2
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... -0.6 +1.3 +2.3 -1.7
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers 0.0 +2.0 +0.8 +4.9
445 Food & beverage stores........................... +0.4 +3.7 -0.4 +2.7
4451 Grocery stores.................................. +0.2 +3.3 -0.5 +2.5
446 Health & personal care stores.................... +1.4 +1.1 +0.2 -0.5
447 Gasoline stations................................ -1.6 +2.0 -4.5 +2.0
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... +1.0 +5.1 +0.2 +4.3
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ +0.6 +9.1 -0.2 +5.7
452 General merchandise stores....................... 0.0 -2.0 -0.8 -2.5
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... +0.3 -1.7 -0.7 -2.8
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... +0.1 +9.9 +0.9 +7.7
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +0.5 +12.6 +3.2 +11.3
722 Food services & drinking places.................. +1.2 +7.7 +1.2 +6.5
(p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(*) Estimates shown in this table are derived from adjusted estimates provided in Table 1A of this report.
TABLE 2B. ESTIMATED CHANGE IN SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, BY KIND OF BUSINESS--December 2012
Data not adjusted for seasonal variations and holiday and trading-day differences and price changes.
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey,
Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)(*)
Dec Nov
2012 2012
adv. prel.
from-- from--
NAICS Kind of Business Nov Dec Oct Nov
Code 2012 2011 2012 2011
(p) (r) (r) (r)
Retail & food Services, total.................... +12.7 +2.5 +2.8 +5.1
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts ).......... +13.8 +2.1 +4.2 +4.5
Retail .................................. +13.4 +2.1 +3.4 +4.8
441 Motor vehicle & parts dealers.................... +7.3 +4.6 -3.6 +7.9
4411,4412 Auto & other motor veh. dealers................ +8.7 +5.5 -3.1 +9.0
442 Furniture & home furnishings stores.............. +10.7 +3.0 +13.0 +6.3
443 Electronics & appliance stores................... +29.3 -0.4 +36.1 -0.7
444 Building material & garden eq. & supplies dealers -10.7 -1.0 -5.1 +5.4
445 Food & beverage stores........................... +7.8 +2.2 +1.3 +3.5
4451 Grocery stores.................................. +4.5 +1.6 +0.7 +3.1
446 Health & personal care stores.................... +12.7 -0.6 -2.5 -0.4
447 Gasoline stations................................ -3.7 +0.4 -9.2 +3.7
448 Clothing & clothing accessories stores........... +43.4 +2.5 +17.0 +6.2
451 Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores........ +52.3 +4.7 +22.2 +6.0
452 General merchandise stores....................... +26.0 -3.4 +14.1 -0.9
4521 Department stores (ex. L.D.).................... +41.3 -3.3 +30.2 -0.5
453 Miscellaneous stores retailers................... +14.7 +7.2 -5.5 +8.1
454 Nonstore retailers............................... +19.5 +9.6 +15.8 +12.9
722 Food services & drinking places.................. +6.3 +6.2 -2.5 +8.1
(p) Preliminary estimate (r) Revised estimate
(*) Estimates shown in this table are derived from not adjusted estimates provided in Table 1B of this report.
SOURCE: Advance Monthly Sales for Retail Trade and Food Services--December 2012 (Press Release available without charge from Public Information Office, Bureau of the Census Washington, D.C. 20233). Survey methodology and measures of sampling variability are documented in the Advance Press Release. Questions concerning this report should be directed to Mr. Ian Thomas (301) 763-2713.