NRSInsights’ December 2025 Retail Same-Store Sales Report

Core Insights - The average price for the top 500 items in December 2025 increased by 2.3% year-over-year, a slight decrease from the 3.1% increase in November 2025 [15] - Same-store sales rose by 4.5% year-over-year in December 2025, compared to a 3.8% increase in November 2025 [5][8] - Units sold increased by 1.7% year-over-year in December 2025, while transactions per store decreased by 0.5% year-over-year [6][8] Sales Performance - Same-store sales increased by 1.2% compared to November 2025, following a decrease of 0.7% from October 2025 [6] - For the three months ending December 31, 2025, same-store sales increased by 4.2% compared to the same period a year ago [6] - The NRS POS terminals processed $2.2 billion in sales during December 2025, reflecting a 15% year-over-year increase [12] Transaction Data - Approximately 217 million transactions were processed in December 2025 across about 24,300 stores, with 266 million transactions processed in November 2025 across approximately 32,200 stores [10] - Baskets (transactions) per store decreased by 0.5% year-over-year in December 2025, and by 3.0% compared to November 2025 [6][15] Market Trends - The increase in sales was driven by larger basket sizes and strong performance in specific categories such as cigarettes, prepared cocktails, and energy drinks [8][9] - The NRS retail network included approximately 38,700 active terminals serving around 33,200 independent retailers, primarily in urban areas [2]