Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation (NRF) released its 2018 economic forecast, projecting that retail industry sales will grow between 3.8-4.4% over last year. Online and other non-store sales, which are included in the overall number, are expected to increase between 10-12%.
Retail sales grew 3.9% in 2017 over 2016 to $3.53 trillion, according to the U.S. Census bureau’s preliminary estimate for the year. The number is subject to revision but exceeded NRF’s forecast for growth between 3.2-3.8%.