DIpil Das
US Apparel and Beauty Spending Tracker: December 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 grow at a rapid pace in December 2021. Consumers upped their spend by 21.9% in December 2021, albeit lower than November’s 23.9%. Although the rate of growth remains down from August’s 25.9%, December’s growth reflects a very strong recovery in category spending, driven by consumers renewing their wardrobes as restrictions ease and they resume social activities. Apparel spending recovered strongly, exceeding pre-pandemic levels from 2019 in every month in 2021. For the full year, consumers grew their spending on apparel by a very substantial 29.3%. On a two-year basis, apparel spending growth was 17.7%.Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_140252" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
Note: 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 very strong year-over-year increase of 22.6% in December 2021, though down from 24.2% in November. 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, followed by strong growth between May and December.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing in 2021, by Category (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1644 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear increased by a substantial 20.5% year over year in December 2021, albeit lower than the 23.5% increase in November 2021.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear in 2021 (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1645 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. Consumers increased their spending on beauty by a very solid 14.3% year over year in December 2021, despite this being slightly lower than the 14.4% growth in November. Spending on beauty recovered quickly and has seen positive year-over-year growth since July 2020. For the full year, consumers grew their spending on beauty by a very substantial 16.8%. On a two-year basis, beauty spending growth was 16.3%.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_140289" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
The beauty category is defined as bath products, cosmetics, nail products and tools, and perfumes Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]