Core US retail sales rose 0.6% month over month and 10.08% year over year in June, the ninth consecutive monthly gain, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor built from Aff Solutions card data. May had shown 0.39% monthly and 6.98% annual growth, so the June acceleration was unusually large and rested partly on a weak June 2025 base that was pressured by earlier tariff uncertainty, which depressed the comparison period.
Category detail was broad: sports, hobby, music and book stores jumped 18.53% annually, clothing and accessories rose 13.65%, digital products 13.56%, personal care 12.87% and department stores 9.9%. Food and beverage stores grew 5.26%. Only furniture and home furnishings slipped 0.16% monthly, though the segment still rose 4.92% versus a year earlier. The Census Bureau survey series echoed the same strength, and NRF chief executive Matthew Shay described a strong start to the summer shopping season.
Why it matters for the pet industry
Pet spending sits inside several of these lines: pet food within food and beverage, treats and grooming within personal care, aquatics and small-animal supplies within the hobby segment. A 10% retail tailwind therefore supports pet category volume even before any pet-specific demand is counted, and the breadth across nine advancing categories shows the lift is not confined to one income tier.
The catch is the base effect: much of the surge reflects soft 2025 comparisons, not a step-change in pet owner wealth, so the durable signal is modest. For pet brands, the move is to defend shelf and subscription momentum while the macro window is open, because the underlying driver is deflation of last year’s fear rather than acceleration of real income. Pet food manufacturers should watch the food-and-beverage 5.26% line as the cleanest proxy for staple pet nutrition demand through the summer.
What to watch
- Track July Retail Monitor food-and-beverage growth as the cleanest proxy for staple pet nutrition demand.
- Watch personal-care annual growth near 12.9% for signals on pet grooming and treat category momentum.
- Monitor whether the ninth straight monthly gain extends into the back-to-school shopping quarter.
FAQ
How much did US retail sales grow in June?
Core US retail sales rose 0.6% month over month and 10.08% year over year in June, the ninth straight monthly gain, per the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor from Aff Solutions card data. May had shown 0.39% monthly and 6.98% annual growth, so June’s acceleration rested partly on a weak 2025 base.
What does US retail sales growth mean for pet brands?
Pet spending sits inside several retail lines: pet food within food and beverage, treats and grooming within personal care, aquatics within hobby. A 10% retail tailwind supports pet category volume across nine advancing categories, though the base effect means much of the surge reflects soft 2025 comparisons rather than real income gains.
Can pet food ride the food sales proxy?
Pet food manufacturers should watch the food-and-beverage 5.26% line as the cleanest proxy for staple pet nutrition demand through summer. Compared with chasing the headline 10% gain, defending shelf and subscription momentum while the macro window is open is the durable move, since the lift reflects deflated fear, not rising income.
Source intelligence adapted for the GlobalPetIndex pet-industry audience. Original publication: external brief.
