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Retail
Annual Retail Trade Survey ANNUAL RETAIL TRADE SURVEY
PURPOSE
To provide detailed industry measures of retail company activities. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey and provides for mandatory responses.
COVERAGE
Retail companies with one or more establishments that sell merchandise and associated services to final consumers.
CONTENT
Companies provide data on dollar value of retail sales, sales taxes collected, inventories, method-of-inventory valuation, cost of purchases, and account receivables balances.
FREQUENCY
Data collection begins the first week after the close of the year. Reported data are for activity taking place over the prior calendar year. Samples are re-selected every 5 years and updated annually. Survey has been conducted annually since 1951 (except 1954).
METHODS
A mail-out/mail-back survey of a sub-sample of about 22,000 firms selected from the monthly retail trade survey panels. The annual survey consists of all monthly survey panel firms that had payrolls during the reference year, plus administrative data or imputed values to account for non-employer retail businesses.
There are currently about 31,000 companies in the monthly sample. The monthly sample consists of 3 rotating panels of about 6,100 single-unit firms and 2,200 small multi-unit firms; and a special panel of large multi-unit firms and other firms with large sales.
The annual survey uses 2 of the 3 rotating monthly panels, and the special monthly panel. Since 1977, the monthly retail trade survey has been benchmarked to the annual retail trade report. Inventories have been similarly benchmarked since 1951. Annual estimates are benchmarked to the most recent census of retail trade. In addition, benchmarking the annual survey to the monthly surveys greatly improved the quality of the monthly estimates and allowed the sample to be reduced.
PRODUCTS
Combined Annual and Revised Monthly Retail Trade reports are released annually each spring. They contain estimates of annual sales, per capita sales, gross margins, monthly and year-end inventories, inventory/sales ratios, merchandise purchased, gross margin/sales ratios, and accounts receivable balances for the U.S. by kind of business. Comparable statistics are shown for the previous year, along with year-to-year percentage changes. Monthly data, both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, for the most recent 10 years are also presented.
USES
These data are widely used throughout government, academic, and business communities. The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses the estimates as an input for estimating Gross Domestic Product. The Bureau of the Census uses the data to benchmark the monthly sales and inventory series. The Federal Reserve Board uses accounts receivable balances for measuring consumer credit.
Retail merchants use data to determine market share. Market research firms use the estimates to analyze market trends and to determine the direction of the economy.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Provides the only current data on gross margin, accounts receivables owed to retail firms.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Annual
Capital Expenditures Survey
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You are here: Economic Programs Overview Retail
Annual Retail Trade Survey
Last revised: Thursday, 27-Jul-2006 11:10:44 EDT
