Year-over-year retail sales (excluding motor vehicles and gasoline) for November rose by 2.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The best-performing category was nonstore sales (a grouping that comprises all online sales, including those processed by physical retailers, plus mail-order companies). That category climbed by 11.5 percent year over year.
The Census Bureau reports that miscellaneous store sales (encompassing florists, office-supply stores, stationery and gift stores, and used-merchandise stores) rose by 4.3 percent. Overall sales at food-and-beverage service establishments increased by 5.1 percent, while sales of sporting goods, hobby shops, and books and music rose by 3.4 percent. Sales in the traditional and discount department-stores sector (a subcategory of general merchandise) dropped by 7.2 percent. General merchandise stores as a whole saw a 0.1 percent decline.
By Brannon Boswell
Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today