NRSInsights, a provider of sales data and analytics drawn from retail transactions processed through the National Retail Solutions (NRS) point-of-sale (POS) platform has announced comparative same-store sales results for January 2023.
As of January 31, 2023, the NRS retail network comprised approximately 22,000 terminals scanning purchases at independent retailers including bodegas, convenience stores, liquor stores, grocers, and tobacco and sundries sellers nationwide, predominantly serving urban consumers.
Same-store data comparisons of January 2023 with January 2022 are derived from approximately 120 million transactions processed through the 12,615 stores on the NRS network that scanned transactions in both months. Same-store data comparisons of January 2023 data with December 2022 data are derived from approximately 169 million transactions processed through 18,604 stores.
Retail Same-Store Sales Highlights
(Sequential comparisons are influenced by seasonal factors)
- Same-store sales increased 11.5% from a year earlier (January 2022) but decreased 6.0% compared to December 2022;
- Same-store sales in the preceding month (December 2022) had increased 9.8% compared to the year-ago month (December 2021) and 6.6% compared to the previous month, (November 2022);
- For the three months ended January 31, 2023, same-store sales increased 9.9% compared to the three months ended January 31, 2022;
- The number of items sold during January 2023 increased 7.2% compared to January 2022 2021 but decreased 2.5% compared to December 2022;
- The average number of transactions per store in January 2023 increased 8.8% compared to January 2022 but decreased 0.9% compared to December 2022;
- A dollar-weighted average of prices for the top 500 items purchased in January 2023 increased 4.0% year over year, a decrease compared to the 5.7% year-over-year increase in December 2022 compared to December 2021.
Suzy Silliman, SVP, Data Strategy and Sales at NRS says, “NRS same-store sales for January increased markedly compared to a year ago, jumping 11.5% while decreasing from December in line with expected seasonal trends. Meanwhile, in good news for consumers, the year-over-year rate of price increases of the most popular goods moderated somewhat compared to recent months. Notwithstanding the decreasing inflationary pressures, extreme year-over-year increases in the prices of certain essential consumer staples including eggs, infant formula, and tortillas suggest that household budgets continue to be strongly impacted by rising prices.”
Retail Trade Comparative Data
The table below provides historical comparative data with the U.S. Commerce Department’s Advance Monthly Retail Trade data excluding food service:
Over the prior 12 months, the NRS same-store retail sales data has exhibited a statistically significant correlation with the US Commerce Department’s Advance Monthly Retail Trade data excluding food services (r=.863, p = 0.000298)
The NRSInsights data have not been adjusted to reflect inflation, demographic distributions, seasonal buying patterns, item substitution, or other factors that may facilitate comparisons to other periods, to other same-store retail sales data, or to the U.S. Commerce Department’s retail data.
