Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesRetail

Watch: US retail suffers surprising January sales decline

Reports say retail sales dropped 0.3% in January, the biggest decline in 11 months. Forecasts expected at least a 0.2%, so the drop surprised analysts and retailers alike. The decline has been attributed to household cutbacks on large expenses like cars and building materials. December, previously marked as an 0.2% bump in sales, has been…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Retail teams put it to work with Sales Enablement.

·
Share
Watch: US retail suffers surprising January sales decline

Free workspace

Turn your Retail expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

Reports say retail sales dropped 0.3% in January, the biggest decline in 11 months. Forecasts expected at least a 0.2%, so the drop surprised analysts and retailers alike. The decline has been attributed to household cutbacks on large expenses like cars and building materials. December, previously marked as an 0.2% bump in sales, has been corrected to a flat rate. Consumer spending as a whole grew nearly 4% in Q4 of 2017, posing the question: why retail is so rocky?

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Retail starts with a company putting its merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Category buyers trust operators, so your merchandising leads shorten the distance between first search and first call.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Retail, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Retail: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Retail buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Retail expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers into the articles, video, and social content Retail buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Retail Insights

Santé raises $15M to put AI sales agents in nearly 1,000 liquor stores

Santé raises $15M to put AI sales agents in nearly 1,000 liquor stores

Santé, a point-of-sale and payments platform for wine and liquor stores, raised $15 million. It serves nearly 1,000 stores processing $2 billion a year. Because Santé earns from payment processing, its next AI agents target selling slow inventory and winning back lapsed customers.

  • 01Santé earns from payment processing built into its platform, so its income rises with store sales, and its next AI agents are aimed at moving slow inventory and re-engaging lapsed customers.
  • 02Santé says 25% of a liquor store's goods take more than 12 months to turn a profit. That is the stock its merchandising agent is built to price and promote.
  • 03The sharper question for any liquor POS demo: which agent actions post automatically, like invoice-driven cost updates, and which wait for an owner's approval, like price cuts on slow movers.

Oct 8, 2026

Grocery Vision AI takes blame for network failures underneath

Grocery Vision AI takes blame for network failures underneath

Network issues can hurt customer experience by causing self-checkout lag and dropped camera feeds, which can frustrate customers.

  • 01Network instability can cause AI systems in grocery stores to perform poorly during peak hours.
  • 02Perceived Vision AI failures are often misattributed when the network underneath is the more likely cause.
  • 03Customer frustration can increase when self-checkout lanes experience delays or disruptions.

Oct 6, 2026

Retail tech rollouts slip when nobody plans for the live store

Retail tech rollouts slip when nobody plans for the live store

Retail technology rollouts often slip when plans ignore the operating store itself. By piloting in low-revenue locations, reserving recovery time before opening, coordinating hardware and field resources, and standardizing store types upfront, retailers can protect opening dates and customer experience while deploying new systems.

  • 01Pilot technology in low-revenue stores where failure costs least revenue, not in flagships, to surface conversion problems before high-impact rollouts.
  • 02Build cutover schedules with dedicated recovery time before store opening; a failed cutover at 5 a.m. with no margin forces either broken equipment or late opening.
  • 03Coordinate hardware procurement, staging, and field technician availability as a single constraint; delays in any handoff push back every dependent store visit.

Oct 6, 2026

Explore More Retail Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Retail.

Browse Retail Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Retail and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512