The retail industry’s growth prospects appear promising due to changing consumer preferences, a strong jobs market, higher wages, and rising disposable incomes. Given the industry’s solid growth prospects, investors could consider buying fundamentally strong retail stocks, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. (NGVC), Village Super Market, Inc. (VLGEA), and Walmart Inc. (WMT).
Despite facing inflationary pressures, retail sales increased by 0.7% in March from the previous month. According to a FactSet poll, this exceeded economists' expectations of a 0.4% gain. Bankrate’s senior industry analyst Ted Rossman said, “Retail sales aren’t increasing just because prices are going up. Americans are actually buying more stuff. This is one of the strongest retail sales reports we’ve seen in the past couple of years.”
