NRSInsights, a provider of sales data and analytics drawn from retail transactions processed through the National Retail Solutions (NRS) point-of-sale (POS) platform, today announced comparative same-store sales results for April 2023.
As of April 30, 2023, the NRS retail network comprised approximately 24,000 terminals scanning purchases at independent retailers including bodegas, convenience stores, liquor stores, grocers, and tobacco and sundries sellers nationwide, predominantly serving urban consumers.
Retail Same-Store Sales Highlights
(Sequential comparisons are influenced by seasonal factors)
- Same-store sales increased 6.5% from a year earlier (April 2022). Sales increased 0.1% compared to the preceding month (March 2023) despite April comprising 30 days compared to March’s 31 days;
- Same-store sales in the preceding month (March 2023) had increased 8.0% compared to the year-ago month (March 2022), and increased 14.0% compared to the preceding month (February 2023) due, in part, to the three additional days in March;
- For the three months ended April 30, 2023, same-store sales increased 7.9% compared to the three months ended April 30, 2022;
- The number of items sold during April 2023 increased 6.9% compared to April 2022 but decreased 0.5% compared to March 2023;
- The average number of transactions per store in April 2023 increased 3.9% compared to April 2022 and increased 1.2% compared to March 2023;
- A dollar-weighted average of prices for the top 500 items purchased in April 2023 increased 3.1% year over year, a decrease from the 4.3% year-over-year increase in March 2023.
Commentary from Suzy Silliman (SVP, Data Strategy and Sales at NRS)
“NRS same-store sales in April increased by a robust 6.5% year-over-year, while rising at a slower pace than we experienced earlier in the year. The sequentially decelerating growth rate likely reflects, in part, seasonal factors and the termination of the COVID-19 Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) following distribution of the February SNAP benefits.
“The three-month rolling average of NRS same-store sales increased 7.9% year-over-year, again substantially outpacing the prior months’ U.S. Commerce Department’s comparable retail same-store metric. The persistent variance likely reflects the overweighting of food, household essential items and other necessities at neighborhood retailers compared to the broader retail marketplace as well as the recent uptick in U.S. brick-and-mortar retail sales versus e-commerce.”
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 past five months, the NRS average 3 month moving average same-store sales has outpaced the US Commerce Department’s Advance Monthly Retail Trade data excluding food services by 4.5 percentage points, on average.
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.
NRSInsights Reports
The NRSInsights monthly Same-Store Retail Sales Reports are intended to provide timely topline data reflective of sales at NRS’ network of independent, predominantly urban, retail stores.
Same-store data comparisons of April 2023 with April 2022 are derived from approximately 137 million transactions processed through the 13,605 stores on the NRS network that scanned transactions in both months. Same-store data comparisons of April 2023 data with March 2023 data are derived from approximately 187 million transactions processed through 19,974 stores.
Same-store data comparisons for the three months ended April 30, 2023 with the year-ago three months are derived from approximately 372 million scanned transactions processed through the NRS network in both quarters.
NRS POS Network
NRS operates the largest POS network for independent retailers in the U.S., aggregating data from approximately 24,000 active POS terminals operating in approximately 21,000 independent retail stores. Its platform predominantly serves urban, small-format, independent, retail stores including convenience stores, bodegas, liquor stores, grocers, and tobacco and sundries sellers. The network includes retailers in all 50 states and in 194 of the 210 designated market areas (DMAs) in the U.S. Over the past twelve months, NRS’ POS terminals processed $14.6 billion in sales through approximately one billion transactions.
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