American consumers are steadily regaining their confidence in the nation's economy following the recession, as people are venturing to retail stores and websites to buy merchandise. These increasing levels are helping to boost merchants' monthly sales, and the trend is expected to continue throughout the year.

A report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) found that during January, retail sales jumped 0.3 percent from the previous month, and they grew by 5.4 percent year-over-year. Many economists had predicted that consumers would curb their spending throughout the beginning of the year, as payroll tax changes implemented as a result of the fiscal cliff deal took extra wages out of workers' paychecks. However, it seems as though consumers learned to adjust their spending levels and gave retailers a positive first month of 2013.

Analysts forecast that retail sales over the coming months will continue to climb, especially as it was revealed that consumer confidence increased during February. RTT News reports that research from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan found that the consumer sentiment index rose to 76.3 from January's figure of 73.8. This index was above the expected reading of 75 for February.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 at 8:41 am .