Weekly chain store sales rose by 0.2 percent in the week ending Aug. 24, according to on the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. On a year-over-year basis, sales slowed to 1.9 pecent, or the slowest pace since July 13, 2013.


“Overall most retail segments were sluggish this past week as the summer lull kicked in,” said Michael Niemira, ICSC vice president of research and chief economist. “Despite the fact the week was slow for the industry overall there were some exceptions as sales rose for grocery, electronic and books and jewelry retailers. Hopefully, an uptick in back-to-school and fall apparel demand in the last week of the fiscal month will kick up the sales pace for the month,” Niemira added.


For the fiscal month of August, ICSC research anticipates that the upward trend will remain in the 4.5–5.0% range.


In observance of Labor Day, next week’s ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot will be released on Wednesday, September 4, 2013.
 
Week Ending            Index1      YOY Change    Weekly Change


24-Aug-13               548.8            1.9%             0.2%
17-Aug-13               547.8            2.2%            -1.9%
10-Aug-13               558.2            2.6%            -0.2%
03-Aug-13               559.1            2.5%              0.3%

 

1. Index 1977=100

 
The Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is produced by the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs. This index measures U.S. nominal same-store or comparable-store sales excluding restaurant and vehicle demand. The weekly index is constructed as a sales-weighted geometric average growth rate to preserve long-term consistency and is statistically benchmarked to a broad-based monthly retail industry sales aggregate that currently represents a sampling of leading retail chain stores, which also is compiled by ICSC. A representative sample of those major retailers has been used as a control group to extrapolate the weekly sales index. As such, the weekly index statistically represents industry sales and is not just a sum of sales for a handful of retailers. The standard period used for the index is Sunday through Saturday, even though some retailers use a different weekly accounting period. The weekly sales index is presented on an adjusted basis to account for normal seasonality and to counter other data anomalies. Weekly seasonal adjustment is at best difficult for chain store sales given that retailers can and often do shift promotions to counter typical shifts in the calendar. Nonetheless, the approach to weekly seasonal adjustment used follows from the Piser Method, which was popular in the early 1930s and became the standard for weekly adjustment.
 
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 55,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials.