The following changes were made with the release of the 2016 ARTS estimates:

• The 2016 ARTS estimates reflect the introduction of a newly selected sample of businesses and are based on the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For further information on the new sample, see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). For information on how estimates from the prior and new samples are linked, see the Benchmarking and Linking Samples sections of the Annual Retail Trade Survey methodology at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/arts/technical-documentation/methodology.html.
• This new sample will reflect 2012 NAICS and will implement updates based on classification changes. Below you will find a table of the 2012 NAICS definition changes for NAICS sectors 44-45. NAICS industries affected by the definition changes will be restated to the beginning of their time series. For NAICS 451 - Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument and Book Stores and 443 - Electronics and Appliance Stores, e-commerce estimates are not being restated prior to 2004.  Estimates were not available at the detail 2012 NAICS level for 45122 - Prerecorded Tape, Compact Disc, and Record Stores to use in restating NAICS at the 3-digit level.  It is important to note that aggregate series for Retail Trade was not affected by this change.  Other items were restated back to the beginning of the time series where estimates were available at the 45122 NAICS level.

• The publication table for ARTS U.S. Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses (NAICS 4541) - Total and E-commerce Sales by Merchandise Line now includes a Jewelry merchandise line that was previously included in “Other Merchandise”.  This new breakout of estimates for Jewelry and changes to the Other Merchandise line are presented back to survey year 2000.  Merchandise line descriptions were changed this year to be more closely aligned with the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) descriptions that will be collected in the 2017 Economic Census. The changes were also made in an attempt to provide further clarification to respondents about where specific items should be reported. Data users are encouraged to review the 2015 and 2016 survey questionnaires to see the differences between the merchandise lines descriptions for these two years.  It is important to note that U.S. Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses (NAICS 4541) – Total and E-Commerce Sales by Merchandise Line (1999-2016) lists the merchandise lines descriptions presented on the 2016 Annual Retail Trade Survey questionnaires. Data users may learn more about NAPCS here: https://www.census.gov/eos/www/napcs/.
• Effective with this release, the Estimated Annual Sales of U.S. Accommodation and Food Services Firms by Kind of Business and the associated Estimated E-commerce Revenue for Employer Firms tables for Sector 72 are no longer released or referenced as a part of the Annual Retail Trade Survey.  All historical series prior to 2016 will still be available to data users and can be found here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/arts/data/tables.html. Annual estimates of Accommodation and Food Services will be published as part of the Service Annual Survey and can be found at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sas/data/tables.html.
• With the implementation of the new sample, we will no longer be collecting data on the leased department sales within department stores. Thus, we will no longer publish estimates of Department Stores Excluding and Including Leased Departments. All estimates for department stores will exclude leased departments and will be published at the following levels: 4521 - Department Stores, 452111 - Department Stores (except Discount Department Stores), and 452112 - Discount Department Stores.  All historical series including these estimates will still be available to data users and can be found here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/arts/data/tables.html.