MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking national retail and service sales, provided summary results for performance of specific U.S. retail industries in August, 2010. This month, sales in most categories recorded a slight year-over-year uptick compared to the year-over-year performance of the prior month. Nevertheless, the tendency has been more towards remaining stable and flat rather than towards growth.

A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and service sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.

Michael McNamara, Vice President, Research and Analysis for SpendingPulse, observes, “Categories such as apparel and electronics appear to have been helped by the back-to-school season, which tends to peak in August, although some spending in apparel can be pushed back into September as parents delay purchasing fall and winter clothing until cooler weather conditions set in. In addition, the hot and dry conditions we saw in August helped the overall restaurant sector while the continued volatile financial markets performance negatively impacted the Luxury sector and, to a lesser extent, the Jewelry sector. We also had tax-free weekends in three large states, Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts that did not occur last year. As a result, year-over-year comparisons in electronics, office supplies and apparel benefited.”

Total U.S. Apparel Sales was back in positive territory in August, up 2.6% year-over-year, following July’s 1.1% decrease. This category, on a year-over-year basis, has been up 5 out of 8 months this year. All sub-sectors except for Women’s Apparel and Men’s Apparel posted increases, with the Children’s category up a solid 8.4% year-over-year, and Family Apparel up 4.1%. Footwear posted a modest increase of 0.9%. Following July’s sharp decline, Men’s Apparel was down only 1.9% in August, while Women’s Apparel, down 1.9% in July, slipped a little further in August, declining 2.7% year-over-year.

Consumer Electronics and Appliances showed increases on a year-over-year basis. While the Consumer Electronics category was up a respectable 2.3%, the Appliances category recorded a 9.4% increase.

eCommerce sales growth slowed in August to +7.2%, which although well into positive territory, was the smallest year-over-year increase in 2010. All eCommerce subsectors except Electronics were in positive year-over-year territory. The channel was helped by double digit growth in several subsectors, namely Total Apparel, Children’s Apparel, Family Apparel and Footwear. Online sales by Department Stores returned to posting a solid gain in August following July’s slip into negative territory. While online Electronics recorded a modest decrease in August of 0.1%, online sales of Jewelry were back in positive territory, up 2% year-over-year.