Amazon took its ball and went home, and U.S. retail sales paid the price
Turns out moving a giant summer sale from July to June is a great way to make the monthly economic charts look like a total disaster.
When the big data folks at the Department of Commerce put out the monthly report, it looked like everyone suddenly stopped buying stuff. But look closer at Amazon, which decided to move its massive annual sale from July to June. Since internet shopping is basically the backbone of modern consumption, that calendar shift was enough to tank the whole month's retail numbers.
While online sales took a dive, people were still out grabbing drinks and dinner, with restaurant spending actually inching up. It seems the urge to go out for a burger is currently stronger than the urge to refresh a shopping cart.
The economy is essentially just a giant game of musical chairs where someone hid the chair in the wrong month. Let that sink in.
Source: census.gov
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