Even if the price goes up, we still have to buy! Total sales in the United States in October reached 638 billion US dollars

Due to factors such as freight congestion and supply chain tension in the recent period, the domestic supply of goods in the United States has been in short supply. Retailers have been forced to raise product prices, causing prices to soar.

Nevertheless, according to survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, as the holidays began to increase in October, people began to shop early, revitalizing the economy in the fourth quarter, and U.S. retail and food sales increased by 1.7% compared with the previous month. Sales in October reached 638 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.3% from October 2020!

The growth of e-commerce and online stores was the largest since September, at 4% and 3.8% respectively. This is the third consecutive month of sales growth in the United States, which also shows the resilience of the US economy.

At the beginning of the holiday, affected by the repeated outbreaks of the epidemic, some people will choose to spend most of their time at home. Therefore, compared with the previous period, sales of clothing and apparel in October fell by 0.7%, and store sales of personal care products also fell by 0.6%. However, online grocery purchases rose slightly, from $8 billion in September to $8.1 billion, a 1.3% increase. Sales of categories such as electronics and home improvement also rose.

Wal-Mart and Home Depot reported third-quarter sales that both beat Wall Street expectations. Home Depot said home furnishings sales continued to surge, with revenue up 9.8% to $36.82 billion in the third quarter.

According to Sarah Wyeth, an analyst at S&P Global, although retailers have raised prices to cope with supply chain tensions, many consumers have increased their savings and paid off various debts during the epidemic, so they can afford these price increases and their purchasing power has little impact.

The epidemic has also changed people’s consumption concepts, and sustainable development and organic shopping have become their new consumption concepts.

Therefore, in addition to the growth of the retail economy, the second-hand economy has also grown significantly in the United States.   A report from Mercari predicts that Americans will spend more than $160 billion on secondhand goods this year, up from $140 billion last year.  

According to Mercari’s survey, 62% of American consumers are worried about the lack of holiday product supply, which makes them turn from the retail market to the second-hand market. Mercari said that by 2023, sales in the second-hand market are expected to grow by 154% to $354 billion.

From the analysis of various data, it can be seen that the effective control of the epidemic and the relaxation of control measures have a great stimulating effect on consumer consumption. Even if prices rise, people's spending on daily necessities such as paper towels and clothing will not be affected. On the contrary, due to the fear of not being able to buy them, there are phenomena such as hoarding and panic buying.

Therefore, when sellers have the opportunity, they can first understand the local market demand and then appropriately increase the inventory of related products to cope with the consumer buying boom caused by holidays or emergencies.

USA

Holiday Sales