DIpil Das
US Apparel and Beauty Spending Tracker: January 2022
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 channel 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 UpdateAgainst year-ago comparatives that were solid (at 6.7%) but lower than those seen in later 2021, year-over-year expansion in consumer spending on clothing and footwear remained robust in January 2022. Shoppers upped their spending by 13.3% in January 2022, versus December 2021’s revised 21.3% growth. January growth stood at 20.9% on a two-year basis.
Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_142339" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
Expenditure data are seasonally adjustedSource: 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 solid year-over-year increase of 14.6% in January 2022, though down from 22.3% in December 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 2021, followed by strong growth between May 2021 and December 2021. In January 2022, category sales growth decelerated but remained strong.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing by Category (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1767 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear increased by 9.8% year over year in January 2022, lower than the 19.2% increase in December 2021.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1768 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.
Against strong comparatives, consumer spending on beauty increased by a very solid 7.8% year over year in January 2022, versus 13.3% growth in December 2021. Spending on beauty recovered quickly and has seen positive year-over-year growth since July 2020.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_142340" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
The beauty category is defined as bath products, cosmetics, nail products and tools, and perfumes Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]