Customers wearing protective masks leave a Uniqlo store in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Retail sales are expected to grow this year between 6.5% and 8.2%, worth more than $ 4.33 billion in sales, as the U.S. economy begins to reopen and more and more individuals receive the Covid vaccine, the National Retail Federation said on Wednesday.
A preliminary reading shows that retail sales rose 6.7% to $ 4.06 trillion last year, the industry’s main trading group said. This was largely driven by an increase of almost 22% online.
Throughout the year, several Americans turned to websites and apps to buy food, comfortable clothes, and household items. The numbers exclude car dealers, gas stations and restaurants.
“The trajectory of the economy is based on the effectiveness of the vaccine and its distribution,” Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the NRF, said in a statement.
“Our main assumption is that vaccination will be effective and allow for accelerated growth in the middle of the year,” he said. “The economy is expected to grow the fastest in two decades.”
Read the full version from NRF here.
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