It likely won’t be as big a hike as last year, but the largest U.S. retail trade group thinks retail sales are going to take another jump this year.
After posting a 3.6% increase a year ago, the National Retail Federation said this week it expects retail sales in the U.S. to climb somewhere between 2.5% and 3.5% in 2024.
The group said it expects retail sales to reach between $5.23 trillion and $5.28 trillion this year, according to a report from the Associated Press.
The 2024 forecast is roughly in line with the 10-year pre-pandemic average annual sales growth of 3.6%.
“The economy is primarily supported by consumers who have shown much greater resilience than expected, and it’s hard to be bearish on the consumer,” the federation’s chief economist, Jack Kleinhenz, told the AP. “The question for 2024 ultimately is, will consumer spending maintain its resilience?”
The group’s calculation of retail sales excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on the core retail sector. The 2024 retail sales forecast is based on economic modeling that considers a variety of indicators including employment, wages, consumer confidence, disposable income, consumer credit, previous retail sales and weather. A strong jobs market and rising wages have fueled household spending, but retail sales have become choppy in the face of rising credit costs and still higher prices. And shoppers have been shifting their spending to services after focusing on buying goods while they were staying close to home during the heart of the pandemic.
