Press Release for MARTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015, AT 8:30 A.M. EST
Paul Bucchioni / Karla Allen
Economic Indicators Division
(301) 763-2713

CB15-04

ADVANCE MONTHLY SALES FOR RETAIL AND FOOD SERVICES
DECEMBER 2014
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December, adjusted for seasonal variation
and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $442.9 billion, a decrease of 0.9 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month, but
up 3.2 percent (±0.9%) above December 2013. Total sales for the 12 months of 2014 were up 4.0 percent (±0.6%) from 2013. Total sales for the
October through December 2014 period were up 4.1 percent (±0.7%) from the same period a year ago. The October to November 2014 percent
change was revised from +0.7 percent (±0.5%) to +0.4 percent (±0.1%).
Retail trade sales were down 1.1 percent (±0.5%) from November 2014, but 2.6 percent (±0.7%) above last year. Auto and other motor vehicle dealers
were up 9.8 percent (±3.0%) from December 2013 and food services and drinking places were up 8.2 percent (±3.3%) from last year.
The advance estimates are based on a subsample of the Census Bureau’s full retail and food services sample. A stratified random sampling method is
used to select approximately 4,900 retail and food services firms whose sales are then weighted and benchmarked to represent the complete universe
of over three million retail and food services firms. Responding firms account for approximately 60% of the MARTS dollar volume estimate. For an
explanation of the measures of sampling variability included in this report, please see the Reliability of Estimates section on the last page of this
publication.

Percent Change in Retail and Food Services Sales
(Estimates adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes)

From Previous Month

From Previous Year
9

2

8

1.5

7
1
6
0.5

Oct.

Dec.

Nov.

3

Dec.

5

0

4

-0.5

3

-1

2

-1.5

1

October
Total

November
Ex Auto

Auto

December
Gen Mer

0
Total

Ex Auto

Auto

Gen Mer

The Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services for January is scheduled to be released February 12, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. EST.
For customized retail time series estimates by industry, visit the Census Bureau’s web site at www.census.gov/timeseries.
To receive the latest updates on the nation’s key economic indicators, download the America’s Economy app for Apple and Android
smartphones and tablets.
The U.S. Census Bureau updated its Application Programming Interface (API) with monthly and quarterly economic indicators. The API
allows developers to combine Census Bureau statistics with other data sets to create tools for research on a variety of topics. For more
information, visit www.census.gov/developers.
For additional survey information, visit www.census.gov/retail.
* The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change
is different than zero.

Table 1. Estimated Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, by Kind of Business
(Total sales estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Monthly Retail
Trade Survey, and administrative records.)

Adjusted2

Not Adjusted
1

NAICS
code

Kind of Business

12 Month Total
2014

Retail & food services,
total ……………………………….

441

% Chg.
2013

2014

2013

2014

2013

Dec.3
(a)

Nov.
(p)

Oct.
(r)

Dec.

Nov.

Dec.3
(a)

Nov.
(p)

Oct.
(r)

Dec.
(r)

Nov.
(r)

5,271,229

4.0

505,251

442,348

442,124

483,162

429,408

442,931

447,121

445,276

429,329

427,081

Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts) … 4,213,570

3.0

415,412

360,626

354,841

402,594

351,825

351,856

355,424

355,008

345,431

342,464

Retail …..……………………………. 4,700,478
(*)
GAFO4………………………....……...……...…………..

3.8
(*)

455,441
(*)

395,135
116,682

392,522
102,133

437,087
144,163

384,546
114,048

393,319
(*)

397,890
106,010

396,214
105,372

383,483
102,228

380,688
102,894

Motor vehicle & parts dealers ……. 1,057,659
Auto & other motor veh. dealers . 975,559
New car dealers ……………….
(*)
Auto parts, acc. & tire stores……
(*)

8.1

89,839

81,722

87,283

80,568

77,583

91,075

91,697

90,268

83,898

84,617

8.8

83,452

75,006

80,089

73,978

70,798

84,380

84,657

83,513

76,820

77,629

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

63,606
6,716

66,397
7,194

63,842
6,590

59,737
6,785

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

101,081

3.0

10,344

9,074

8,484

9,571

9,125

8,642

8,577

8,561

8,166

8,410

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

4,698
4,376

4,454
4,030

4,234
5,337

4,599
4,526

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

(NA)
(NA)

2.9

13,659

11,105

8,552

12,768

10,668

9,046

9,194

9,182

8,473

8,782

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

8,384
(S)

6,556
(S)

9,265
(S)

7,867
(S)

(*)
(*)

7,081
(S)

7,065
(S)

6,363
(S)

6,594
(S)

328,017

5.0

24,848

26,077

28,588

23,158

24,693

27,517

28,050

27,607

26,167

25,899

(*)

(*)

(*)

21,920

24,369

19,213

21,019

(*)

23,294

23,011

21,734

21,691

Food & beverage stores…………….
Grocery stores …………………..
Beer, wine & liquor stores ………

668,352

3.0

60,788

56,655

56,610

58,665

55,238

56,652

56,462

56,316

55,342

54,358

594,261
(*)

2.5
(*)

52,191
(*)

50,329
4,188

50,417
4,159

50,510
5,371

49,132
4,149

50,377
(*)

50,178
4,159

50,067
4,163

49,326
4,032

48,454
3,989

Health & personal care stores …….
Pharmacies & drug stores ………

298,597

6.1

28,942

24,219

25,690

26,747

23,296

25,567

25,440

25,335

24,096

23,942

44611

(*)

(*)

(*)

19,945

21,453

21,835

19,356

(*)

20,929

20,930

20,032

19,893

447

Gasoline stations ……………………

533,568

-2.7

36,584

39,422

44,620

42,503

41,694

39,422

42,163

43,489

45,949

44,121

448

Clothing & clothing accessories
stores …………………………….…..

254,061

2.2

33,722

23,739

20,457

32,311

22,796

21,649

21,724

21,254

20,861

20,637

(*)

(*)

(*)

831

784

1,078

796

(*)

771

755

708

738

(*)
(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)
(*)

4,013
10,019
2,631

3,629
8,418
2,355

4,661
12,257
3,375

3,741
9,477
2,539

(*)
(NA)
(*)

3,695
(NA)
2,597

3,615
(NA)
2,571

3,420
(NA)
2,563

3,395
(NA)
2,465

4411, 4412
44111

4413
442
4421
4422
443
44311, 13
44312
444
4441
445
4451
4453
446

44811
44812
44814
4482

Furniture & home furn. stores ……
Furniture stores …………………..
Home furnishings stores ………..

Electronics & appliance stores …… 107,360
Appl., T.V. & camera………………
(*)
Computer & software stores…….
(*)
Building material & garden eq. &
supplies dealers…………………….
Building mat. & sup. dealers ……

Men's clothing stores ……………
Women's clothing stores ………..
Family clothing stores ……………
Shoe stores ………………………

451

Sporting goods, hobby, book &
music stores…………………………

87,988

-0.1

12,879

8,197

6,713

12,019

8,058

7,603

7,618

7,585

7,258

7,345

452

662,960

1.6

74,345

61,554

54,428

73,647

60,277

55,286

55,779

55,625

54,501

54,596

167,806

-2.1

23,821

16,836

13,129

23,888

16,965

13,947

13,976

13,871

14,035

14,151

(*)

(*)

(*)

17,218

13,444

24,414

17,331

(*)

(NA)

(NA)

(NA)

(NA)

(*)

(*)

(*)

44,718

41,299

49,759

43,312

(*)

41,803

41,754

40,466

40,445

45299

General merchandise stores……….
Department stores (ex. L.D.)……..
Department stores (incl. L.D.)5……
Other general merch. stores…. ..
Warehouse clubs &
supercenters………………….
All oth. gen. merch. stores……

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

(*)
(*)

39,196
5,522

36,025
5,274

43,234
6,525

37,996
5,316

(*)
(*)

36,598
5,205

36,537
5,217

35,496
4,970

35,477
4,968

453

Miscellaneous store retailers ……..

119,863

1.6

11,212

9,669

10,968

11,016

9,764

9,934

10,123

10,202

9,850

9,966

454

480,972

7.1

58,279

43,702

40,129

54,114

41,354

40,926

41,063

40,790

38,922

38,015

4541

Nonstore retailers …………………..
Elect. shopping & m/o houses ….

(*)

(*)

(*)

36,697

33,187

44,500

33,381

(*)

34,105

33,899

30,839

30,264

722

Food services & drinking places …

570,751

5.8

49,810

47,213

49,602

46,075

44,862

49,612

49,231

49,062

45,846

46,393

4521
4521
4529
45291

(*) Advance estimates are not available for this kind of business.

(NA) Not available

(a) Advance estimate

(p) Preliminary estimate

(r) Revised estimate

(S) Estimate does not meet publication standards because of high sampling variability (coefficient of variation is greater than 30%), poor response quality
(total quantity response rate is less than 50%), or other concerns about the estimate's quality.
(1) For a full description of the NAICS codes used in this table, see http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics
(2) Estimates are concurrently adjusted for seasonal variation and for holiday and trading day differences, but not for price changes. Concurrent seasonal adjustment
uses all available unadjusted estimates as input to the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program. The factors derived from the program are used in calculating all seasonally
adjusted estimates shown in this table. Year-to-date seasonally adjusted sales estimates are not tabulated. Adjustment factors and explanatory material can be found
on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/retail
(3) Advance estimates are based on early reports obtained from a small sample of firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample.
All other estimates are from the MRTS sample.
(4) GAFO represents firms which specialize in department store types of merchandise and is comprised of furniture & home furnishings (442), electronics & appliances (443),
clothing & accessories (448), sporting goods, hobby, book, and music (451), general merchandise (452), office supply, stationery, and gift stores (4532).
(5) Estimates include data for leased departments operated within department stores. Data for this line are not included in broader kind-of-business totals.
Note: Table 3 provides estimated measures of sampling variability. Additional information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error,
sample design, and definitions may be found at http://www.census.gov/retail

Table 2. Estimated Change in Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, by Kind of Business
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey,
Monthly Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records.)
Percent Change1

NAICS
code

Kind of Business

Dec. 2014 Advance
from --

Nov. 2014 Preliminary
from --

Oct. 2014
through
Dec. 2014 from -Jul. 2014
Oct. 2013
through
through
Sep. 2014
Dec. 2013

Nov. 2014
(p)

Dec. 2013
(r)

Oct. 2014
(r)

Nov. 2013
(r)

Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts) …..

-0.9
-1.0

3.2
1.9

0.4
0.1

4.7
3.8

0.4
0.1

4.1
3.0

Retail ………………………..………..

-1.1

2.6

0.4

4.5

0.1

3.7

4411, 4412

Motor vehicle & parts dealers ………
Auto & other motor veh. dealers …

-0.7
-0.3

8.6
9.8

1.6
1.4

8.4
9.1

1.6
1.7

8.5
9.4

442

Furniture & home furn. stores ………

0.8

5.8

0.2

2.0

1.9

3.2

443

Electronics & appliance stores …….

-1.6

6.8

0.1

4.7

0.9

4.2

444

Building material & garden eq. &
supplies dealers………………………

-1.9

5.2

1.6

8.3

0.6

6.6

4451

Food & beverage stores………………
Grocery stores …………………….

0.3
0.4

2.4
2.1

0.3
0.2

3.9
3.6

0.9
1.0

3.2
2.9

446

Health & personal care stores ………

0.5

6.1

0.4

6.3

1.0

6.0

447

Gasoline stations ……………………..

-6.5

-14.2

-3.0

-4.4

-7.3

-7.8

448

Clothing & clothing accessories
stores ……………………….…………

-0.3

3.8

2.2

5.3

1.5

3.3

451

Sporting goods, hobby, book &
music stores…………………………..

-0.2

4.8

0.4

3.7

3.3

3.9

452
4521

General merchandise stores…………
Department stores (ex. L.D.)……….

-0.9
-0.2

1.4
-0.6

0.3
0.8

2.2
-1.2

-0.3
-0.4

1.7
-1.7

453

Miscellaneous store retailers ……….

-1.9

0.9

-0.8

1.6

-0.2

1.6

454

Nonstore retailers …………………….

-0.3

5.1

0.7

8.0

2.0

7.3

722

Food services & drinking places …..

0.8

8.2

0.3

6.1

2.9

7.4

Retail & food services,
total ………………………………..

441

445

(p) Preliminary estimate

(r) Revised estimate

(1) Estimates shown in this table are derived from adjusted estimates provided in Table 1 of this report.
Note: Table 3 provides estimated measures of sampling variability. Additional information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error,
sample design, and definitions may be found at http://www.census.gov/retail.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Survey Description
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Advance Monthly Retail
Trade and Food Services Survey (MARTS) to provide an early
estimate of monthly sales by kind of business for retail and food
service firms located in the United States.
Each month,
questionnaires are mailed to a probability sample of approximately
5,000 employer firms selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade
Survey (MRTS). Firms responding to MARTS account for
approximately 65% of the total national sales estimate. Advance
sales estimates are computed using a link relative estimator. The
change in sales from the previous month is estimated using only
units that
have reported data for both the current and

previous month. There is no imputation or adjustment for
nonrespondents in MARTS. The total sales estimate is derived by
multiplying this ratio by the preliminary sales estimate for the
previous month (derived from the larger MRTS sample). Detailed
industry estimates are summed to derive total estimates at broad
industry levels. The monthly estimates are adjusted using annual
survey estimates and for seasonal variation and holiday and
trading-day differences. Additional information on MARTS and
MRTS can be found on the Census Bureau website at:
http://www.census.gov/retail.

FIRST-CLASS MAIL
POSTAGE & FEES PAID

U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, D.C. 20233

Bureau of the Census
PERMIT NO. G-58

Official Business
Penalty for Private Use, $300

Reliability of Estimates
Because the estimates presented in this report are based on a sample
survey, they contain sampling error and nonsampling error.

confidence level that the change is different from zero and therefore
the change is not statistically significant. Estimated changes shown in
the text are statistically significant unless otherwise noted. For a
monthly total, the median estimated coefficient of variation is given.
The resulting confidence interval is the estimated value ±1.753 x CV x
(the estimated monthly total). The Census Bureau recommends that
individuals using estimates in this report incorporate this information
into their analyses, as sampling error could affect the conclusions
drawn from the estimates.

Sampling error is the difference between the estimate and the result
that would be obtained from a complete enumeration of the sampling
frame conducted under the same survey conditions. This error occurs
because only a subset of the entire sampling frame is measured in a
sample survey. Standard errors and coefficients of variation (CV), as
given in Table 3 of this report, are estimated measures of sampling
variation.

Nonsampling error encompasses all other factors that contribute to the
total error of a sample survey estimate. This type of error can occur
because of nonresponse, insufficient coverage of the universe of retail
businesses, mistakes in the recording and coding of data, and other
errors of collection, response, coverage, or processing. Although
nonsampling error is not measured directly, the Census Bureau
employs quality control procedures throughout the process to
minimize this type of error.

The margin of sampling error, as used on page 1, gives a range about
the estimate which is a 90 percent confidence interval. If, for example,
the percent change estimate is +1.2 percent and its estimated
standard error is 0.9 percent, then the margin of sampling error is
±1.753 x 0.9 percent or ±1.6 percent, and the 90 percent confidence
interval is –0.4 percent to +2.8 percent. If the interval contains 0, then
one does not have sufficient evidence to conclude at the 90 percent

Table 3. Estimated Measures of Sampling Variability and Revision to Advance Estimates Dec. 2014
(Estimates are shown as percents and are based on data from the Advance Monthly Retail Trade Survey and Monthly Retail Trade Survey)
Median standard error(1) for
Percent change

Median

NAICS Code

441
4411, 4412

442
443
444
445
4451
446
447
448
451
452
4521

453
454
722

Kind of Business

Retail & food services,
total ………………..………………….
Total (excl. motor vehicle & parts) ..
Retail …..…………………………..
Motor vehicle & parts dealers ……..
Auto & other motor veh. dealers .
Furniture & home furn. stores…….
Electronics & appliance stores …..
Building material & garden eq. &….
supplies dealers……………………
Food & beverage stores…………….
Grocery stores …………………..
Health & personal care stores ……
Gasoline stations …………………..
Clothing & clothing accessories
stores ………………………………..
Sporting goods, hobby, book &
music stores………………………..
General merchandise stores……….
Department stores (ex. L.D.)……
Miscellaneous store retailers ……..
Nonstore retailers …………………..
Food services & drinking places ..

CV

(1)

for

Revision for monthto-month change(2)

Current Mo.

Previous Mo.
to

Previous Qtr.
to

Current Mo.
to same

Average

Median
absolute

(%)

Current Mo.

Current Qtr.

Mo. Last Yr.

revision

revision

0.5
0.5
0.5
1.6
1.6
2.6
2.3

0.3
0.2
0.3
1.1
1.3
1.5
0.4

0.2
0.2
0.2
0.6
0.6
0.9
0.6

0.5
0.4
0.4
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.6

0.1
0.0
0.1
0.3
0.3
0.0
0.6

0.3
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.8

2.2
1.3
1.4
2.2
1.9

1.4
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.4

0.9
0.3
0.2
0.4
0.4

1.5
1.3
1.4
1.0
0.9

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
-0.2

0.6
0.1
0.1
0.3
0.2

2.3

0.5

0.6

1.6

-0.1

0.4

2.0
0.3
0.0
2.9
1.3
2.2

0.7
0.0
0.0
1.8
0.5
0.9

0.9
0.1
0.0
1.2
0.4
0.6

1.2
0.4
0.0
2.1
1.2
1.9

0.3
0.1
-0.1
0.2
0.1
0.2

0.6
0.4
0.3
0.9
0.3
0.5

(1)

Estimated measures of sampling variability are based on estimates not adjusted for seasonal variation or holiday or trading day variation. Medians are based on estimates for the most
recent 12 months.

(2)

These columns provide measures of the difference between the advance-to-preliminary and preliminary-to-final estimates of month-to-month change for the same pair of months as
measured by the Advance sample and MRTS sample. The average and median revisions are based on estimates for the most recent 12 months.

Note: Additional information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, sample design, and definitions may be found at http://www.census.gov/retail