Cathy Carter-Culp on Retail Sales Beating Market Expectations
About Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington IL
Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL is a seasoned leader in Product Development, Sales Management, Merchandising, and Brand Development. Currently serving as Chief Merchandising and Sales Officer for Dorel Juvenile, Cathy Carter-Culp leverages refined relationship management skills in building new lines of business for the company, and in generating serious results for clients.
A graduate of Utah State University with a dual major in Business Marketing and Fashion Merchandising, for the last 25 years, Cathy Carter-Culp has also managed her own sales agency in the Chicago area, specializing in bringing new products to market and mass-market sales.
Inflation has put an interesting twist on the lives of many Americans, but even with the high price of goods and gasoline, Americans are still making purchases. In the following article, Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL discusses how retail sales are beating market expectations.
U.S. retail sales have gone up more in the last month than market expectations. Americans ended up spending more on goods and gasoline in the month of June which caused a rise in retail sales, despite high inflation rates.
Even though the rate of retail sales has gone up, there was a decline in manufacturing production, as well as a decline in clothing store sales, and the sales of gardening and building equipment and materials, leaving the economic picture looking, “increasingly muddled,” according to Reuters.com.
Increase in sales due to inflation
Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL explains that even though everything is more expensive now, American households are spending around the same amount as they were earlier. “Padded by high savings and increasing wages,” people are not necessarily buying more items, they are simply paying more to keep up with the high inflation rates.
Sales at auto dealerships rose 0.8% after a 3% decline in the month of May. The price of gasoline rose to an average of over $5 a gallon, and sales at gas stations increased 3.6%. Bars and restaurants sales rose 1%, and online store sales went up 2.2%.
Consumer prices went up a shocking 9.1% in the month of June, which was the largest increase of annual consumer prices since November of 1981. This put the Federal Reserve in a position to complete another 75-basis point increase in interest rate sometime at the end of this month. Since March, the U.S. central bank’s policy rate has risen by 150 basis points, according to one source.
Even though there was a rise in retail prices in June, core retail sales, after they’ve been inflation adjusted, were much softer.
Even though retail sales are going up, Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL notes that there has been a decline in manufacturing production, as well as a decline in the sales of equipment and building materials, leaving a muddled view of the current economic picture.
Will there be a recession?
Cathy Carter-Culp of Barrington, IL notes that with the current state of the economy, many are wondering if there is an imminent recession headed for the lives of Americans. Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer to this question, as there are many opposing views over the issue.
There was a record trade deficit in the first quarter, which is why the economy contracted at a rate of 1.6%. GDP estimates for the second quarter range from anywhere between a 1.9% rate of decline annually to a 1% growth pace.
The labor market is quickly generating jobs, and there were millions of unfilled positions in the month of May. This means that even though there may be a decline in quarterly GDP, it does not necessarily mean the economy will experience a recession.
However, many individuals believe that a recession is coming. One chief economist in New York said that he believes that the economy will “experience a recession towards year-end.”
But currently businesses are still seeing sales growth and many expect to continue into the new year regardless of market conditions. Please subscribe to this blog for more sales and retail marketing updates from Cathy Carter-Culp.
