Shoppers Take a Vacation From the Malls

U.S. consumers sat on the sidelines in July, with retail spending flat compared with one year ago. One bright spot, however, was online sales.

According to a MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report released Aug. 4, shoppers pulled back on buying shoes, children’s clothing and menswear while luxury spending remained about even with last year.

“Overall, retail sales continued to tread water, following the pattern set with June’s sales when consumers demonstrated a reluctance to make larger purchases and, instead, traded down. Particularly, we are noticing some weakness in industry sectors that rely on higher-priced ticket items such as furniture and discretionary areas such as luxury and jewelry,” observed Michael McNamara, vice president, research and analysis for SpendingPulse.

Total apparel sales declined 1.1 percent in July compared with last year, following June’s 3.3 percent year-over-year gain. In July, women’s apparel, children’s apparel and footwear all showed declines of 1 percent to 4 percent, with childrenswear showing its first decline in 10 consecutive months. Menswear posted a steep 16.3 percent dip.

But e-commerce sites were holding their own, with online sales boosted 10.9 percent in July on a year-over-year basis. Apparel websites were performing well, showing a 13.7 percent burst in sales in July.

Here are SpendingPulse’s figures comparing revenue for July 4 through July 31 with the same period a year earlier.

bull; CLOTHING: (at mall-based stores): Overall clothing sales slipped 1.1 percent from a year ago, when they dropped 5.2 percent. Children’s clothing fell 3.7 percent, the first decline in 10 months. Revenue in women’s clothing fell 1.9 percent, while men’s clothing sales dropped 16.3 percent.

bull; FOOTWEAR: Down 2.9 percent from a year ago, when revenue fell 7.4 percent.

bull; LUXURY: Excluding jewelry, revenue was up 0.2 percent, compared with a year ago, when business was down 16.3 percent.

bull;JEWELRY: Down 1.2 percent overall, but at the high-end, jewelry revenue dropped 13 percent.—Deborah Belgum