Supply Chain Research

U.S. retail sales growth slowed in February to just 2.4% year over year after a 7.8% jump in January. That’s been most keenly felt in clothing and electricals which dropped by 14.9% and 6.7% respectively in February. While sales growth is modest, imports of consumer discretionary products have continued to soar raising the risk of overstocking. U.S. seaborne imports of consumer durables have surged with shipments of furniture and appliances up by 41.8% and 78.1% year over year respectively in the first two months of 2021 while shipments of consumer electronics jumped 28.5% higher. Appare...