The US is the world's largest retail market, and it is a sector that has enjoyed a strong trading climate in the past couple of years, largely due to the combined impacts of the $800bn (£634bn) in stimulus cheques (equal to five weeks’ retail sales) and other stimulus programmes. Having chugged along since the financial crisis with annual industry growth (volume plus inflation) of around 4 per cent, 2021 saw sector expansion of almost 20 per cent, which bled into 2022 when growth was still close to double-digit levels. The outlook had been for a return to the long-term norms, but with the strength of the economy, a rampant stock market and high employment, we could be looking at US retail remaining above trend for longer than expected.
Annual US retail sales total around $8tn (which compares with around $650bn in the UK) and, in common with the UK, around 15 per cent of shopping is online, split 60:40 between pure online and location click-and-collect.
