DIpil Das
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 saw a deep year-over-year decline of 8.8% in December 2020, compared to 6.2% in November and 2.7% in October. The trend may reflect early shopping ahead of the final holiday peak in 2020 and renewed stay-at-home orders that were issued in early December in the US.
Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_123015" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Note: Expenditure data is seasonally adjusted at annual rates
Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption] Clothing and Footwear Spending by Subcategory We track subcategories of clothing and footwear, including children’s and infant’s clothing, footwear, men’s and boy’s clothing, and women’s and girl’s clothing. Spending on clothing declined by 9.9% year over year in December, with men’s and boy’s clothing seeing the strongest decline compared to other subcategories, of 10.4%. Total yearly spending on clothing declined by 12.6% year over year, 0.6 percentage points higher than our projection of a 13.2% decline. Figure 2 shows spending on clothing by category type. Category sales growth followed the same pattern as clothing overall, with sequentially deepening declines from October to December after a revival in September. For 2020 overall, women’s and girl’s clothing sales growth decreased by 13.0%, deeper than the 12.6% decline in total spending on clothing. Men’s and boy’s clothing sales growth decreased by 12.7%, slightly deeper than average growth of spending on clothing. Children’s and infants’ clothing sales decreased by 8.0%, better than the average decline for total clothing spending.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing, by Category (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=749 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear declined 5.9% year over year in December, versus a 5.4% decline in November. For 2020 overall, sales growth decreased by 12.3%.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=750 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Beauty Spending Update Based on BEA definitions, the beauty category includes bath products, cosmetics, nail preparations and implements, and perfumes. Growth in consumer spending on beauty moderated to 2.9% year over year in December 2020, compared to year-over-year growth of 4.8% in November and 6.2% in December. Spending on beauty recovered quickly from June 2020 onward and has seen positive year-over-year growth since July. For 2020 overall, sales increased by 0.6%. For the holiday quarter, US sales grew by 4.6% year over year, slightly higher than our estimate of 4.4%.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_123016" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Beauty defined as bath products, cosmetics, nail preparations and implements, and perfume
Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]
Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_123015" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Note: Expenditure data is seasonally adjusted at annual rates Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption] Clothing and Footwear Spending by Subcategory We track subcategories of clothing and footwear, including children’s and infant’s clothing, footwear, men’s and boy’s clothing, and women’s and girl’s clothing. Spending on clothing declined by 9.9% year over year in December, with men’s and boy’s clothing seeing the strongest decline compared to other subcategories, of 10.4%. Total yearly spending on clothing declined by 12.6% year over year, 0.6 percentage points higher than our projection of a 13.2% decline. Figure 2 shows spending on clothing by category type. Category sales growth followed the same pattern as clothing overall, with sequentially deepening declines from October to December after a revival in September. For 2020 overall, women’s and girl’s clothing sales growth decreased by 13.0%, deeper than the 12.6% decline in total spending on clothing. Men’s and boy’s clothing sales growth decreased by 12.7%, slightly deeper than average growth of spending on clothing. Children’s and infants’ clothing sales decreased by 8.0%, better than the average decline for total clothing spending.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing, by Category (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=749 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear declined 5.9% year over year in December, versus a 5.4% decline in November. For 2020 overall, sales growth decreased by 12.3%.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=750 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Beauty Spending Update Based on BEA definitions, the beauty category includes bath products, cosmetics, nail preparations and implements, and perfumes. Growth in consumer spending on beauty moderated to 2.9% year over year in December 2020, compared to year-over-year growth of 4.8% in November and 6.2% in December. Spending on beauty recovered quickly from June 2020 onward and has seen positive year-over-year growth since July. For 2020 overall, sales increased by 0.6%. For the holiday quarter, US sales grew by 4.6% year over year, slightly higher than our estimate of 4.4%.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_123016" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Beauty defined as bath products, cosmetics, nail preparations and implements, and perfume Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]