DIpil Das
US Apparel and Beauty Spending Tracker: May 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 in May 2021, with a strong year-over-year increase of 56.8%, albeit lower than the year-over-year surge of 114.4% in April 2021 (which reflected the deep decline in consumer spending in April 2020). The continued growth in apparel spending is being driven by consumers renewing their wardrobes to resume normal pre-pandemic social activities as restrictions are eased. The two-year percentage change was 4.1% in January 2021, (2.3)% in February 2021, 13.2% in March 2021, 11.4% in April 2021 and 11.1% in May 2021. Apparel spending appears to have recovered, exceeding pre-crisis levels from 2019 in most months. On a two-year basis, apparel spending growth averaged 7.5% in the January 2021–May 2021 period. Should that growth rate continue, we will see an 18.7% year-over-year increase in apparel spending in June and a 19.5% year-over-year increase in July. Our weekly US consumer surveys track consumer purchasing behaviors. In recent weeks, our findings have shown an increase in the proportion of respondents buying clothing or footwear, both in-store and online—for more, see our US Consumer Tracker Databank.Figure 1. US Consumer Spending on Clothing and Footwear (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_129318" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
Note: Expenditure data are seasonally adjusted at annual rates 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 58.1% in May 2021. Figure 2 shows spending on clothing by category type. Category sales growth followed the same growth pattern as clothing overall, with declines in February 2021 followed by strong growth in March, April and May.
Figure 2. US Consumer Spending on Clothing, by Category (YoY% Change) [wpdatatable id=1066 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Spending on footwear increased by 55.8% year over year in May 2021, down from a 137.5% increase in April 2021.
Figure 3. US Consumer Spending on Footwear (YoY % Change) [wpdatatable id=1067 table_view=regular]
Source: BEA/Coresight Research Beauty Spending Update Our tracker follows the US BEA definition of the beauty category, and therefore includes nail products and tools, bath products, cosmetics and perfumes. Growth in consumer spending on beauty was 27.8% year over year in May 2021, down from a surge of 44.1% in April 2021. 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 grew by 19.2% in May 2021 versus 20.7% in April 2021. Two-year growth averaged 18.2% between January and May 2021. Should that growth rate continue, we will see a 19.8% year-over-year increase in beauty spending in June and a 13.9% year-over-year increase in July.
Figure 4. US Consumer Spending on Selected Beauty Categories (YoY % Change) [caption id="attachment_129319" align="aligncenter" width="725"]
The beauty category is defined as nail products and tools, bath products, cosmetics and perfume Source: BEA/Coresight Research [/caption]