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April's higher shopping rates doesn't equal sales growth

Traffic rebounded, while cautious spending lingered in April.

May 11, 2015

Although shopping activity increased in April, it failed to translate into sales growth, according to a study by Euclid Analytics released this week. The report, which publishes each month and analyzes shopper activity and behavior, measured data from tens of millions of domestic shopping sessions to reveal

The report showed a negative outlook for industry revenues and estimated sales growth in the following retail verticals of:

• 1.1 percent decline year-over-year in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other retail sales
• 2.1 percent decline year-over-year in clothing and apparel sales
• 1.6 percent decline year-over-year in general merchandise sales

Shopper traffic increased 12 percent compared to the same month last year as warmer weather and the Easter holiday drove consumers out shopping, according to the report. The early Easter did not cause a drop off in visits to the store, but consumer caution around spending tax refunds prevented a commensurate sales boost.

The best shopping day of the month was Monday, April 6, which experienced significantly higher traffic and storefront conversion than last year. Sunday, April 19 was the worst shopping day of the month.

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