Supply Chain Research

U.S. retail sales continued to recover in September with a 7.1% increase compared to a year earlier. Furniture store sales accelerated to growth of 7.5% compared to just 1.7% in August. Electrical store sales meanwhile dropped by 6.1%, accelerating the August decline of 4.7%, potentially because online retailers are continuing to take market share. The slowing sales come as imports of consumer electronics and household appliances have soared by 9.5% and 47.5% year over year in September respectively. That raises the risk of retailers having over-built inventories, potentially cutting fut...