For a Brief Moment, Everybody Wins in Retail
The stay-at-home spending habits that took hold last year have not fully subsided even as reopening-related buying is taking off. It won’t last forever.
U.S. retailers rang up a heap of sales in March, all thanks to the “cross-fade effect.”
Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
A torrent of consumer spending took place in March as stimulus checks and loosening pandemic restrictions encouraged shoppers to open their wallets. The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales advanced 9.8% in March from February, a blistering pace of growth that easily exceeded analysts’ expectations. The gains were broad-based, with virtually every category recording growth from the previous month.
What’s happening? Call it a “cross-fade effect”: the stay-at-home spending habits that took hold last year have not fully subsided even as reopening-related buying is starting to taking off.