Dive Brief:

• Retail sales grew .3% in May, missing Wall Street’s expectations of a .6% increase, according to the monthly report on retail sales by the U.S. Department of Commerce released Thursday. 

• The Commerce Department also revised its April sales report higher to .5%. That led most economists to hold on to their estimates of growth for the economy at about 3% to 4%.

• A category of retail sales that includes department store sales (which decreased 1.4%) and big-box general merchandise stores fell .6%. But the retail category that factors in e-commerce saw a healthy rise of .6%.

Dive Insight:

Consumers seemed to get a bit shy again in May as their retail spending slowed. The good news is that most economists believe they will be spending enough in the second half of the year to buoy the economy to steady growth. And e-commerce is doing its part to keep the numbers healthy.