Retail spending hums along in June

Retail spending hums along in June – Media release

12 August 2016

Robust spending in most of the retail trade industries has boosted total sales for the June 2016 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. A strong increase this quarter follows a more subdued rise in the March 2016 quarter.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the total volume of retail trade sales had a record rise in dollar terms for the June 2016 quarter. This quarter's sales volumes rose 2.3 percent – the largest percentage increase since the December 2006 quarter. This quarter's increase follows a 1.0 percent rise in the March 2016 quarter.

“Consumer spending is humming along, with DIY and trade staff customers boosting sales in the hardware and building supply trades. Strong vehicle sales also continued," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

"Twelve of the 15 industries had higher sales volumes this quarter, with some Auckland retailers in particular saying they had an extremely busy quarter," Mr Kelly added.

Industries with the largest sales volume increases were:
• hardware, building, and garden supplies – up 5.0 percent
• motor-vehicle and parts retailing – up 2.6 percent
• pharmaceutical and other store-based retailing – up 5.2 percent
• food and beverage services – up 3.3 percent.

Retail sales values up

When the effect of price changes is included, the seasonally adjusted value of total retail sales rose 2.2 percent ($443 million) for the June 2016 quarter. This is also a record rise in dollar terms for total sales value, and follows a subdued 0.8 percent rise ($164 million) in the March 2016 quarter.

In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was $19.9 billion in the June 2016 quarter, up 5.5 percent ($1 billion) from the June 2015 quarter.

Ends

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Retail Trade Survey: June 2016 quarter
• Open the attached files
RetailTradeSurveyJun16qtr.pdf
rtsJun2016tables.xlsx

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