The three-month moving average was up by 4.6% over the same period a year ago, topping NRF's forecast that 2018 retail sales will grow between 3.8% and 4.4% over 2017. May results build on improvement seen in April, which was up by 0.5% monthly and 2.8% year over year.
NRF's numbers are based on data from the US Census Bureau, which said overall May sales – including automobiles, gasoline and restaurants – were up by 0.8% seasonally adjusted from April and up by 5.9% year-over-year.
Clothing and clothing accessory stores were up by 8.2% year-over-year and up by 1.3% from April seasonally adjusted. Sporting goods stores were down by 0.5 percent year-over-year and down by 1.1% from April seasonally adjusted.
Other specifics from key retail sectors during May include online and other non-store sales were up 9.1% year-over-year and up 0.1% over April seasonally adjusted.
NRF is the world's largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation's largest private-sector employer, supporting one in four US jobs – 42 million working Americans. NRF estimates retail to contribute 2.6 trillion US dollars to annual GDP.