Consumer confidence levels and spending are up, but many Americans are still concerned about federal budget cuts and how they will impact personal finances. Retailers are feeling the effects of this, as sales volumes in February grew but certain cautions remain for the coming months.

A report from Thomson Reuters revealed that a survey of 13 large retailers throughout the United States experienced a 1.8 percent jump in sales from January. This was better than analysts' forecast, which was 1.2 percent. Seventy-three percent of companies beat these estimates in their February sales, while 27 percent did not meet expectations.

However, there were several factors that hindered last month's retail sales, mainly in the form of severe winter weather. The Associated Press reports that although February is usually the time when businesses replace winter merchandise with spring and summer-related items, the onslaught of winter storms throughout the country did not encourage consumers to stock up on products for the coming warmer months. In addition to these conditions, increases in payroll taxes and ongoing uncertainty pertaining to federal budget cuts also impacted customers' purchases, the news source notes.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 11th, 2013 at 5:31 am .