Census: December 2020 Advance Monthly Sales Drop 0.7 Pct

The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Friday (Jan. 15) that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December 2020 fell 0.7 percent from November 2020 but they were 2.9 percent higher than December 2019, according to a press release.

The estimates took into account “seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences” but did not consider price changes, according to the release.

Retail trade sales dropped 0.3 percent from November 2020, although they were 6.3 percent higher than 2019. Nonstore merchants were up 19.2 percent from December 2019, but food and beverage establishments were down 21.2 percent from 2019.

Total sales for the 2020 calendar year were 0.6 percent higher than 2019. Overall sales between October 2020 and December 2020 were up 4 percent from the same timeframe a year prior.

The October 2020 to November 2020 percentage change was updated to down 1.4 percent from down 1.1 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau said that the advance estimates are based on a smaller portion of its complete retail and food services sample. “A stratified random sampling method is used to select approximately 5,500 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,” according to the press release.

The Census Bureau said the January 2021 Advance Monthly Retail report is set to be published on Feb. 17 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The news comes as the monthly U.S. Census Bureau report published on Dec. 16 found that U.S. retail sales were down 1.1 percent in November in contrast to October, arriving at roughly $546.5 billion.

Overall sales between September 2020 and November 2020 were up 5.2 percent from the same timeframe in 2019.

The September 2020 to October 2020 percent change was updated to down 0.1 percent from up 0.3 percent. Retail trade sales were down 0.8 percent from October 2020, although they were 7.1 percent higher than 2019.

Nonstore merchants were up 29.2 percent from November 2019, although food and beverage establishments were down 17.2 percent from 2019.