US retail sales worsen in May

Excluding Wal-Mart, same-store retail sales among US retailers continued to decline in May, though data indicates signs of easing as shoppers in the world's largest economy showed signs of easing up on their belt-tightening measures during the downturn.

Retail industry analyst, Retail Forward, in its report for May said that figures from more than 30 retailers reporting monthly results yesterday showed that same-store sales excluding Wal-Mart fell 4.2 per cent.

Wal-Mart has discontinued disclosing monthly results since last month.

That decline was worse than the 2.3 per cent last month and the 1.9 per cent gain in May of 2008 for the same composite measure calculated without Wal-Mart. Including Wal-Mart, same-store sales were up 0.9 per cent in April and up 3.2 per cent in May of 2008.

Despite the same-store sales results, shoppers said that they are less inclined than last year to limit their spending, seek deals or trade down to lower-priced brands and retailers in response to the economic downturn.

''The aggregate sales numbers may not reflect it for a while, but shoppers are showing signs of moderating their frugality of recent months. If shoppers can sustain this positive momentum, then it should bear fruit for retail sales by the end of the year, if not the coming months,'' said Frank Badillo, senior economist at Retail Forward.

May's declines were least severe among apparel and accessory stores and most severe among department stores. Warehouse Clubs and miscellaneous other retailers were between the extremes.

Compared with their responses last August, in May markedly fewer households said the economic downturn had significantly changed their shopping behaviour this year. In August of 2008, more than one-third of households said their behavior had changed significantly. In May, that percentage dropped to nearly one-fourth.

The percentages of shoppers taking advantage of good sales / deals, doing more price comparison-shopping and stocking up on items fell significantly in May compared with August.

While shoppers remain intent on buying fewer things, 53 per cent in May compared with 55 per cent in August, their resolve has slipped in terms of other limiting behaviors.

Smaller percentages of shoppers are reporting using other methods to limit spending, such as buying only things they truly need, shopping less often, buying fewer luxury items, postponing purchases, fulfilling only near-term needs and keeping things longer before replacing them.

All trading down tactics, like buying less expensive versions of products, buying more store brands, doing more shopping at discount retailers and trading down to less expensive brands, are being employed by smaller percentages of shoppers.