USA Retail Sales (MoM)

ADVANCE MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES, MARCH 2017

Release Number: CB17-56

Intention to Revise: Monthly retail sales estimates will be revised based on the results of the 2015 Annual Retail Trade Survey. Revised not adjusted estimates and corresponding adjusted estimates are scheduled for release on April 26, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

April 14, 2017 —The U.S. Census Bureau announced the following advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March 2017. :

Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food Services

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for March 2017, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $470.8 billion, a decrease of 0.2 percent (±0.5 percent)* from the previous month, and 5.2 percent (±0.9 percent) above March 2016. Total sales for the January 2017 through March 2017 period were up 5.4 percent (±0.7 percent) from the same period a year ago. The January 2017 to February 2017 percent change was revised from up 0.1 percent (±0.5 percent)* to down 0.3 percent (±0.2 percent).

Retail trade sales were down 0.2 percent (±0.5 percent)* from February 2017, and up 5.5 percent (±0.9 percent) from last year. Gasoline Stations sales were up 14.3 percent (±1.4 percent) from March 2016, while Nonstore Retailers were up 11.9 percent (±1.8 percent) from last year.

General Information

The April 2017 Advance Monthly Retail report is scheduled for release on May 12, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room: <www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables of this release can be found at <www.census.gov/retail/>.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

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 4,700 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.

Survey Description

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Advance Monthly Retail Trade and Food Services Survey to provide an early estimate of monthly sales by kind of business for retail and food service firms located in the United States. Each month, questionnaires are mailed to a probability sample of approximately 4,700 employer firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey. Advance sales estimates are computed using a link relative estimator. For each detailed industry, we compute a ratio of current-to-previous month weighted sales using data from units for which we have obtained usable responses for both the current and previous month. For each detailed industry, the advance total sales estimates for the current month is computed by multiplying this ratio by the preliminary sales estimate for the previous month (derived from the larger MRTS) at the appropriate industry level. Total estimates for broader industries are computed as the sum of the detailed industry estimates. The link relative estimate is used because imputation is not performed for most nonrespondents in MARTS. For a limited number of nonresponding companies that have influential effects on the estimates, sales may be estimated based on historical performance of that company. The monthly estimates are benchmarked to the annual survey estimates from the Annual Retail Trade Survey once available. The estimates are adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading day differences. Additional information on MARTS and MRTS can be found on the Census Bureau website at: <www.census.gov/retail>.

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Source:- US Census Bureau