The US Census reports the monthly value of retail sales grouped into 12 kinds of business activity. The terms for those activities, or industries, come from the outlets where the goods are sold. Think, gasoline stations, sporting goods stores, and home furnishings stores. But when consumers change where they go to purchase these products, the value of retail sales by industry may not tell a complete story about consumer spending.

The FRED graph above shows the inflation-adjusted value of retail sales in two kinds of businesses: furniture and home furnishing stores (the blue line) and electronics and appliance stores (the red line). The data are first available in 1992. Between then and 2008, they had similar values and identical directions of change during expansions and recessions (shaded areas in the graph), which strongly suggests consumers bought home furniture and appliances in synch.

After 2008, however, retail sales at electronics and appliance stores steadily declined while retail sales at furniture and home furnishings stores bounced back. Why? A number of reasons can help explain why consumers aren’t shopping at brick-and-mortar electronics and appliance stores as much as they used to:

• Consumers are using the online ordering portals of those traditional stores. As described by Jessica Nicholson at the US Department of Commerce, these sales are classified as non-store retail transactions.
• They’re buying online from businesses that do not have physical outlets and offer home delivery or pickup options at alternative locations, such as grocery stores or standalone lockers.
• And they’re patronizing big-box stores that cater to many different consumption needs under one roof and in large quantities. These retail sales are reported under “warehouse clubs and superstores,” a subcategory of general merchandise stores.

In short, the declining value of retail sales at electronics and appliance stores likely reflects consumer foot traffic redirected to other types of physical outlets, as well as its replacement by online browsing and digital shopping carts.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Retail Sales: Furniture and Home Furnishings Stores.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Edit Line” tab to customize the data by searching for “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average.” Don’t forget to click “Add.” Next, type the formula (a/b)*100 and click “Apply.” Next, use the “Add Line” tab to search for and select “Retail Sales: Electronics and Appliance Stores.” Repeat the steps described above to customize the data and adjust them by consumer price inflation.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo