Nonstore sales will surpass motor vehicles sales as soon as next month.
What Are Nonstore Sales?
“Non-store sales” (often written as nonstore retail sales) is a business term that refers to retail transactions made outside of a traditional, physical brick-and-mortar storefront.
This method of retail relies on other channels to connect with buyers:
- E-commerce: Online marketplaces, websites, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) web stores.
- Direct Selling: Direct-to-home selling, catalog sales, and mail orders.
- Automated Retail: Vending machines and kiosks.
- Remote Sales: Telemarketing and TV/streaming shopping networks.
The biggest nonstore retailer is Amazon.
Nominal Advance Retail Sales – Motor Vehicles vs Nonstore
Sales in Millions of Dollars
- Nonstore: 139,965
- Motor Vehicles and Parts: 140,261
Spotlight Department Store Spending
Spending Percentages
- Nonstore Sales: 18.27 percent
- Motor Vehicles and Parts: 18.37 percent
- Department Stores: 1.47 percent
Department store spending is so irrelevant the BLS stopped gathering data in March of 2025.
Advance Retail sales food and Beverage Stores vs Food Services
Where Food Spending Goes
- Food and Beverage Stores: 85,555
- Food Services: 100,953
Spending on food eating out (not counting tips) surpassed spending on eating at home in April of 2022.
Where the BLS Says Food Spending Goes
The BLS weighs food at home at 8.235 percent of the CPI with food away from home at 5.277 percent.
The total weight of food is 13.512 percent.
The food and beverage store weight should be ((85,555 / (85,555 +100,953)) * 0.13512 = 6.200 percent.
The food services weight should be ((100,953 / (85,555 +100,953)) * 0.13512 = 7.313 percent.
The BLS includes taxes but not tips in these calculations so their weights are very far off. Since the price of food away from home is rising much faster, the BLS is way undercounting food inflation.
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