Transaction Trends

Discount Stores and Lumber/Building Lead Mid-Year Consumer Spending

ETA, in collaboration with The Strawhecker Group, today released a mid-year U.S. Retail Spending Report Card. The report finds that despite recent headlines of declining retail sales, certain retail sectors, led by discount stores, are thriving as consumers regain confidence.

“These ‘temperature takes’ on retail spending are invaluable for retailers and the payments ecosystem,” said Jason Oxman, CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association. “As we exit the home improvement-focused summer and head into the busy holiday season, our joint reports with The Strawhecker Group will continue to provide clarity to merchants and financial services firms.”

The ETA/TSG report tracks year over-year (YOY) growth for credit/debit same store sales in the month of June. The data leveraged is sourced from TSG’s data warehouse of over 3.5 million card-accepting merchants in the U.S. Across all merchant categories, only discount stores showed more than 10% YOY growth, while lumber and building materials showed 8 to 10 percent YOY growth. Sporting goods, jewelry, and bookstores all showed negative YOY growth – the only three merchant categories to post negative growth.

Next month, ETA and TSG will release a comprehensive analysis on consumer holiday spending in advance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“The growth in new U.S. single-family home sales in early 2017 has spurred consumers to seek out home related goods and supplies,” said Jared Drieling, Director of Business Intelligence at TSG. “Meanwhile, the dollar store format and their popularity with lower-income customers have helped them sustain revenue growth at a time when big retailers are slashing prices of household essentials.”

Other key highlights include:

• Household appliance stores, floor covering and carpet stores, and furnishing specialty stores saw 6-8% growth over last year.
• Garden stores, automotive tire stores, auto supply and hardware stores, computer software stores, men’s clothing, and shoe stores also saw impressive growth between 4-6%.

ETA members can access the mid-year U.S. Retail Spending Report Card on electran.org.