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Estimated retail sales for March fell 10.7%, to $305.8 billion from $342.4 billion during the same period last year, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. Retail sales for March decreased 1.1% from $309.2 billion in February, according to the Census Bureau's Advance Monthly Retail and Food Services Survey, which provides an early estimate of monthly sales for U.S. retail and food-service firms. Each month, the bureau mails questionnaires to approximately 5,000 companies. Meanwhile, consumers remain extremely cautious about spending, according to survey data by Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover Financial Services (CardLine, 4/8). Some 28% of consumers surveyed in March said they plan to spend less in the immediate future compared with 17% who plan to spend more. Asked what they would do with extra money if they had it, 38% of respondents said they would use it to pay down either a mortgage or credit card debt, and 33% said they would save the funds. Only 10% said they would buy something they had been putting off, and 2% said they would use the funds to go on a vacation.
