Home furnishings stores ride the January sales wave

Washington – Consumer spending kept on rolling after the holidays, resulting in strong retail sales in January.

Sales as furniture and home furnishings stores were up 7.2% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 1.5% unadjusted year-over-year.

The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) calculation of total retail sales – which excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on core retail – showed January was up 4.7% seasonally adjusted from December and up 8.5% unadjusted year-over-year. In December, sales were down 3.6% month-over-month but up 13% year-over-year. NRF’s numbers were up 12.5% unadjusted year-over-year on a three-month moving average as of January.

“January’s numbers show that 2022 is starting very strong for consumers and retailers, especially on the heels of a record holiday season and record sales in 2021,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay

NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz noted that several factors mitigated against robust spending, including a series of winter storms across large swaths of the country, spiking omicron variant spread in January and the expiration of the enhanced child tax credit at the end of 2021.

The U.S. Census Bureau today said overall retail sales in January were up 3.8% seasonally adjusted from December and up 13% year-over-year. Those figures include sales from automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants. Despite occasional month-over-month declines, sales have grown year-over-year every month since June 2020, according to Census data.

Looking ahead, the economy and the retail industry still face a number of challenges, said NRF’s Shay. They include inflationary pressures, labor shortages, Covid-19 impacts and international tensions with Russia and China.

“[D]espite these concerns, consumers are spending, and the economy remains in good shape,” he added. “We are confident that retail sales growth and overall consumer financial health can continue, and current pressures in the economy should be moderated if election-year political pressures don’t result in policy decisions that compound the challenges our economy is already facing.”

In addition to the results for furniture and home furnishings noted above, sales in other breakout segments include:

• Clothing and clothing accessory stores were up 0.7% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 19.1% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Building materials and garden supply stores were up 4.1% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 12.7% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Online and other non-store sales were up 14.5% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 8.9% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Health and personal care stores were down 0.7% month-over-month seasonally adjusted but up 7.7% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Grocery and beverage stores were up 1.1% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 7.2% unadjusted year-over-year.
• General merchandise stores were up 3.6% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 6.4% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Furniture and home furnishings stores were up 7.2% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and up 1.5% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Sporting goods stores were down 3% month-over-month seasonally adjusted and down 0.8% unadjusted year-over-year.
• Electronics and appliance stores were up 1.9% month-over-month seasonally adjusted but down 3% unadjusted year-over-year.