U.S. retail sales in March recorded double-digit year-over-year growth rates, according to the latest SpendingPulse data report from Purchase-based Mastercard.
Total retail sales, excluding automotive and gasoline, rose 26.3% from March 2020 — the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic — to March 2021, while online sales soared 56.8% over the same period.
Year-over-year sales were off to a lethargic pace in the first half of March (a mere 1.6%) but abruptly took off in the second half, with a 46.9% year-over-year spike.
Mastercard attributed the late blooming to a new round of stimulus infusion from the federal government and broader reopenings of state economies.
Discretionary spending on jewelry and apparel, which were deemed by many as non-essential purchases at the start of the pandemic, is now showing a rapid rebound. Jewelry sales in March recorded a 106.1% year-over-year increase, while apparel sales were up 60.6%. Department stores are also making up for lost time, with a 114.3% increase in sales from one year earlier.
The one retail sector that showed negative year-over-year growth in March was grocery ”“ the hoarding that was recorded at the start of the pandemic has long vanished, and year-over-year grocery sales plummeted by 20.4% in March.
