DIpil Das
US Apparel and Beauty Spending Tracker: August 2021
The Coresight Research US Apparel and Beauty Spending Tracker provides a monthly update on the trajectory of consumer spending on beauty, clothing and footwear. The data presented in this report refer to consumer spending through any channels and so differ from retail sales data, which include product category sales by type of retailer. The data are sourced from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Clothing and Footwear Spending Update Consumer spending on clothing and footwear continued to recover in August 2021. Year-over-year growth was strong at 25.6%, higher than July’s 23.2%—albeit lower than June’s 27.1% increase and spikes of 63.7% growth in May and 125.0% in April 2021, reflecting deep declines in consumer spending in May and April 2020. Consumers renewing their wardrobes as restrictions ease and they resume social activities is driving spending. We are closely monitoring the impact of the Delta variant, as fluctuations in case numbers may impact recovery. As of August 2021, the spread of the Covid-19 variant in the US has not yet negatively impacted apparel consumer spending. Apparel spending has recovered strongly, exceeding pre-crisis levels from 2019 in every month so far in 2021. On a two-year basis, apparel spending growth averaged 16.3% between January and August 2021. Should that growth rate continue, we will see an 11.1% year-over-year increase in apparel spending in September and a 13.4% year-over-year increase in October 2021. Our weekly US consumer surveys track consumer purchasing behaviors. Our findings have shown an average increase in the proportion of respondents buying clothing or footwear in August, echoing rising consumer spending in August. For more details, see our US Consumer Tracker Databank.Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_133855" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Expenditure data are seasonally adjusted Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption] Clothing and Footwear Spending by Subcategory We track four subcategories of clothing and footwear: footwear, children’s and infants’ clothing, men’s and boys’ clothing, and women’s and girls’ clothing. Spending on clothing overall saw a year-over-year increase of 25.0% in August 2021. Figure 2 shows spending on clothing by category type. Category sales growth followed the same growth pattern as clothing overall, with a slight fall in February 2021 and a peak in April 2020, followed by strong growth between May and August.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing, by Category (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1310 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear increased by 29.5% year over year in August 2021, higher than the 20.2% increase in July 2021.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1311 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Beauty Spending Update Our tracker follows the US BEA definition of the beauty category, including bath products, cosmetics, nail products and tools, and perfumes. Growth in consumer spending on beauty came in at 12.3% year over year in August 2021, higher than the 10.6% growth in July. Spending on beauty recovered quickly last year and has seen positive year-over-year growth since July 2020. On a two-year basis, category spending growth averaged 15.4% between January and August 2021. Should that growth rate continue, we will see a moderated 11.6% year-over-year increase in beauty spending in September and a 9.4% year-over-year increase in October.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_133856" align="aligncenter" width="726"]
The beauty category is defined as bath products, cosmetics, nail products and tools, and perfumes Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]