Since last year, the big-box retail industry has faced several challenges, such as supply chain constraints, high inflation, a tight labor market, and rising interest rates. Retail sales declined 1.1% sequentially in December.
The holiday sales were affected by high inflation and high-interest rates as they came below industry expectations as sales grew 5.3% year-over-year to $936.30 billion, compared to NRF’s expectations of between $942.60 billion and $960.40 billion.
