The Retail Monitor Plus, powered by Affinity Solutions, is a new free product exclusively for NRF members that offers retail professionals a deep dive into consumer spending within 14 individual retail sectors and 10 subsectors. The Retail Monitor Plus features a user-friendly data dashboard that is updated monthly with new spending data from the month prior.

All data is presented at the topline sectors and subsectors level as well as by generation and income level and includes:

• Year-over-year spending, unadjusted by sector
• Month-over-month spending, adjusted and unadjusted by sector
• Year-over-year change in spending by income and generation, by sector
• Average spending per card by demographic

NRF members have exclusive access to the NRF Retail Monitor Plus. Log in to NRF.com to confirm that your company is a member. If you do not have a login to NRF.com, you can create one here. 

To learn more about NRF membership, visit our Membership page.

The NRF Retail Monitor Plus dashboard is available through the Retail Monitor Plus home page.  Members will have exclusive access to the Retail Monitor Plus data once logged into NRF.com. 

The Retail Monitor Plus dashboard is updated monthly with spending data from the month prior. For more information on how to be notified when new data is available, please contact crci@nrf.com.

Yes. Data from individual charts can be downloaded into an Excel file via the download button below each chart.  

Please email crci@nrf.com for any assistance or questions about the NRF Retail Monitor Plus. 

While the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor is designed to be an economic measure of aggregate retail sales, comparable to the U.S. Census data on the retail sector, the Retail Monitor Plus is designed with retail professionals in mind and uses a retailer-based approach to building the 14 retail sectors and 10 subsectors.  

Although the Retail Monitor Plus is based on similar data as the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, they employ several different methodological approaches and are not directly comparable.

The Retail Monitor Plus data tracks retail sales performance for 14 custom sectors and 10 subsectors: 

• Year-over-year spending, unadjusted  
• Month-over-month spending, adjusted and unadjusted 
• Year-over-year change in spending by income and generation  
• Average spending per card by income and generation 

The Retail Monitor Plus includes data on 14 custom retail sectors and 10 subsectors across three income categories and five generational cohorts. This allows users to view topline changes in sales for restaurants, for example, while also diving deeper to view data on specific sectors and subsectors such as fast food, fast casual and full service. 

• Apparel and accessories 

  • Clothing

  • Jewelry  

  • Shoes and handbags 

• Auto parts and accessories 
• Beauty and health 
• Beverage and grocer
  • Delivery services 
  • Grocery 
  • Liquor and beverage 
• Department stores 
• Discount, off-price and dollar
• Electronics 
• Hobby, toy and specialty 
• Home furnishings and décor
• Home improvement, building and garden 
• Mass merchants and membership clubs 
• Pet shops and supplies
• Restaurants
  • Delivery services
  • Fast casual
  • Fast food 
  • Full service and bars
• Sporting Goods

Five generations:

• Generation Z: 1997 - 2010   
• Millennials: 1981 - 1996   
• Generation X: 1965 - 1980   
• Baby Boomers: 1946 - 1964   
• Silent Generation: Pre-1946  

Three income levels:

• $0-$50k  
• $50k – $100k  
• $100k+ 

Yes. Any data used or pulled from the NRF Retail Monitor Plus must be sourced “NRF Retail Monitor Plus, powered by Affinity Solutions.”

To learn more about how to access additional data, please complete our inquiry form. 

The NRF Retail Monitor Plus leverages Comet™, Affinity Solutions’ insights platform to analyze retail sales across the United States. Comet™ provides dynamic and accurate consumer spending insights by ingesting, segmenting and processing data from over 140 million permissioned credit and debit cards. 

All metrics referenced are calculated based on Affinity’s full comprehensive dataset and are seasonally adjusted where specified. All information produced by Affinity Solutions is aggregated and grounded in consumer permission. It does not include any personal identifiable information of an individual consumer. 

The NRF Retail Monitor Plus is designed with retail professionals in mind and uses a retailer-based approach to building the 14 retail sectors and 10 subsectors.