The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the largest retail association in the world. They anticipate retail sales growing up to 13.5% to more than $4.44 Trillion this year as the country is recovering rapidly.
Retail is Improving Fast in the US
Retail sales are growing rapidly in the US after the shocking downfall from the past year in the retail sector. The NRF is now forecasting a fast growth for this year of 10.5% to 13.5% which is the highest growth rate that they have ever forecasted.
Looking at the month of May this year, sales were 17.3% higher than last year in the same month. With an even bigger growth when considering the first five months of this year is 17.6 percent higher than the first five months of last year. In 2019, sales in retail were down so much that we can now see a 20.8% growth between 2019 and this year.
Not including eCommerce sales in the calculations, we can see that there is still a growth of 17%.
Ecommerce Growth
The eCommerce forecast has been predicted to an increase of 18% growth for the rest of the year. The detailed forecast estimates a 17.9% increase and a reach of $933.30 Billion. With a prediction that the eCommerce sector will be 20% of the overall retail sector in 2024.
New Businesses in Retail
With the rise in the retail sales industry in the US, there is also an increase in new retail businesses opening their doors. According to recent studies, the number of new business applications was at 92000 in May this year. Whereas in 2019 the average was 43000 per month.
With this forecast from the biggest retail association in the world, we can expect good growth in the retail industry for the rest of the year.