US Department of Commerce releases July assessment, furniture and home decoration sales are not satisfactory

Sales of furniture and home furnishings continued to decline in July compared with a year earlier, according to the Commerce Department's latest monthly assessment.

Adjusted furniture and home furnishings sales were $11.039 billion in July, down 6.3% from $11.781 billion in July 2022. Compared with June's $11.238 billion, it was down 1.8%.

In the first seven months of 2023, U.S. furniture and home decoration sales will be $77.532 billion, a decrease of 3.8% from the same period in 2022.

Looking at the overall situation, the overall retail sales data of the United States in July was adjusted to 696.354 billion US dollars, an increase of 3.2% from the 674.932 billion US dollars in July 2022, and an increase of 0.7% from the 691.312 billion US dollars in July 2020. June this year.

By business, only gas stations (down 20.8%) saw a bigger drop than furniture and home decoration. Construction and garden equipment and supplies dealers (down 3.3 percent) and electronics and appliance stores (down 3.1 percent) also underperformed.

Compared to 2022, food service and beverage businesses (11.9 percent growth) and non-store retailers (10.3 percent) posted double-digit growth, while health and personal care stores (8.1 percent) and auto and parts dealers ( 7.6%) growth rate is also quite impressive.

Department of Commerce estimates based on a subsample of the U.S. Census Bureau's Retail and Foodservice Total Sample, using a stratified random sample of approximately 5,500 retail and restaurant establishments, weighted and benchmarked by sales, reflecting an overall view of over 3 million Retail and restaurant businesses across the United States.