Washington state’s taxable retail sales grew 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, reaching just over $35.9 billion. Retail trade, which is a portion of all taxable retail sales, rose 4.7 percent to a total of $16.2 billion in that same time period of Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2015.

The data comes from a quarterly analysis of tax return data by industry provided by the Washington State Department of Revenue (Revenue). The reports compare the same quarter year-over-year to equalize any seasonal effects that would influence consumer and business spending decisions.

Revenue categorizes the state’s taxable retail sales using the North American Industry Classification System, the same method federal statistical agencies use to classify businesses for the purpose of analyzing data related to the economy.

The taxable retail sales recap for Calendar Year 2015 will be available from Revenue in the next few days.

Snapshot of Fourth Quarter 2015

· Sales reported by new and used auto dealers increased 9.5 percent, reaching $3 billion.

· Sales of apparel and accessories only rose 0.65 percent, reaching $1.3 billion for the quarter.

· Drug and health stores’ sales grew 19.8 percent, reaching $623 million.

· Taxable e-commerce and mail order sales increased 10.3 percent, to $786 million.