To provide an early indication of sales by retail companies. The United States
Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey and provides for voluntary responses. Retail companies with one or more establishments that sell merchandise and
associated services to final consumers. Companies provide data on dollar value of sales, reporting period, and number
of retail establishments. Reported data are for activity taking place during the previous month. Forms
are mailed 5 working days before the end of the reporting month and responses
are due 3 working days after the reporting month.
Smaller and medium-sized retailers participate in the survey for about two
years and then are replaced with new firms. The survey has been conducted monthly since 1953; except for February 1970
to February 1972. A mail-out/mail-back survey of a sub-sample of companies and Employer Identification
Numbers (EINs) selected from the monthly retail trade survey. The advance survey
sample of about 4,100 firms is selected by stratifying the companies in the
larger monthly sample by sales size and major kind-of-business, and selecting
the desired number of cases randomly from each stratum. Some 900 firms, because
of their relatively large effect on the sales of certain industry groups, are
selected with certainty. Advance sales estimates for each kind of business are developed by applying
a ratio of current-month to previous-month sales (derived from the advance sample)
to the preliminary estimate of sales for the previous month (from the larger
monthly sample). Industry estimates are summed to derive total retail sales
figures. Data are seasonally adjusted. Publication of the advance report was
suspended in the 1970's because of unsatisfactory relationships between the
advance and later monthly estimates, and was resumed after modification of the
estimating procedure. Numerous improvements to the estimation procedure have
been made since then and the average absolute revision to the advance estimate
is now two-tenths of one percent. Advance Monthly Retail Sales reports are released about 9 working days after
the close of the reference month. They contain the advance estimates for the
reporting month and preliminary sales data for the previous month by major kind-of-business
group. Data presented are both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted. This economic indicator is widely used and closely watched throughout government,
academic, and business communities. The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses the
estimates as an input for estimating Gross Domestic Product. The Federal Reserve
Board uses the estimates to anticipate economic trends. The Council of Economic
Advisors uses the estimates for economic policy analysis.
The news media report on this indicator regularly and use the estimates for
economic analysis. Financial analysts and market research firms use the data
to analyze market trends, as well as to determine the direction of the economy.
Businesses use the estimates to measure how they are performing and predict
future demand for their products. Provides a designated principal economic indicator and the earliest available
monthly estimates of broad based retail trade activity.
Business
annd Professional Classification Survey EXPLORE INFORMATION CONTINUE OVERVIEW Last revised:
Thursday, 27-Jul-2006 11:10:44 EDT
ADVANCE MONTHLY RETAIL SALES SURVEY
PURPOSE
COVERAGE
CONTENT
FREQUENCY
METHODS
PRODUCTS
USES
SPECIAL FEATURES
RELATED PROGRAMS