American retail sales rose for a 13th straight month in October, but the growth was the slowest in nearly a year, as shoppers turned choosier in the face of high prices. Total retail sales, excluding car dealers and petrol stations, reached $561.7 billion in October, up 0.15 percent from September and 3.57 percent from a year earlier, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor released on Wednesday by the National Retail Federation.
The monthly gain was roughly half of September’s 0.28 percent, and the annual pace slowed from 4.05 percent, according to the federation. Core retail sales, which also exclude restaurants, totalled $454.2 billion in October, up 0.26 percent month over month and 3.36 percent year over year. For the first 10 months of 2026, total sales were up 5.75 percent and core sales up 5.63 percent.
Electronics Lead, Furniture Lags
Electronics and appliance stores recorded the largest gain, with sales rising 9.3 percent compared with October 2025, as shoppers bought ahead of the holidays. Sales were higher year over year in every category except furniture and home furnishings, which were down 2.62 percent, and sporting goods, which were down 0.44 percent, according to the federation’s release.
The October report is the second month using the Retail Monitor’s enhanced methodology, which draws on transaction data from about 120 million debit and credit cards provided by Affinity Solutions, weighted to reflect US consumer spending and aligned with the Census Bureau’s retail sales totals. The federation said the revised methodology means the latest figures are not directly comparable with Retail Monitor reports published before September.
Shoppers Are Getting Choosier
The headline growth needs a caveat: the monitor counts dollars, not goods. When prices rise, sales rise with them even if a household leaves the store with the same cart, or a lighter one. October’s consumer price index rose 0.4 percent month on month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the food index up 0.5 percent and energy up 0.7 percent, so part of the spending growth is inflation, not extra shopping.
Even so, the figures suggest consumers are still spending as the holiday season begins, just more selectively. The federation’s own holiday forecast calls for November and December sales to grow 4.2 percent over 2025. Walmart’s early Black Friday event, which runs through Sunday, is the first big test of that forecast, and the October data suggests the shoppers turning up will be hunting for genuine bargains rather than buying freely.
