Retail Sales Rose in March With Help of Warmer Weather
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American retailers, led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., reported March sales that exceeded estimates as an early Easter and warmer weather spurred purchases of holiday gifts and spring clothing.
The shift of Easter sales may dampen revenue in April. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said yesterday that sales may fall as much as 2% this month. Federated Department Stores Inc., owner of Macy’s, said first-quarter sales would be at the low end of its previous forecast.
In March, 69% of retailers beat analysts’ sales estimates, almost double the 35% rate in February, said Retail Metrics LLC. Easter was eight days earlier than 2006, moving candy and toy purchases into March. Sales of lightweight clothing benefited from the second-warmest March on record.
“The early Easter had people buying and apparently clothing was a big push for a lot of retailers,” the director of retail at New York consulting firm AlixPartners LLC, Russell Jones, said. “Almost across the board, results” exceeded expectations.
Wal-Mart reported a 4% gain in America beating its forecast of 1% to 2%. Gap Inc.’s same-store sales rose for the first time in more than a year. Kohl’s Corp.’s results almost doubled analyst estimates.
Sales at 53 retail chains climbed a combined 5.9%, the most since April 2006, the International Council of Shopping Centers said. The ICSC had forecast a gain of 4% to 5% at American stores open at least a year. Same-store sales are used to measure the health of older locations.
Separately, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said its index of March sales, which tracks about 30 retailers, rose 6.2%.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index of 30 companies rose 0.5% yesterday and has gained 3.7% this year. The broader S&P 500 index has advanced 2.1%.
Last month was the second-warmest March in America since records began in 1895, according to weather consulting firm Planalytics Inc., based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. February was the coldest since 1994, the company said.
“This type of lift is not unusual with the warmer than normal weather,” ICSC Chief Economist Michael Niemira said yesterday in an interview.
