Retail spending hums along in June

22 August 2018

Strengthened spending in most retail industries lifted total sales for the June 2018 quarter, Stats NZ said today.

After adjusting for seasonal effects the total retail sales volume rose 1.1 percent, after a modest 0.3 percent rise in the March 2018 quarter.

“This quarter had growth in a number of industries, some of which had fallen last quarter,” retail trade manager Sue Chapman said.

Hardware and building supplies (up 4.7 percent) had the largest increase this quarter.

“Consumer spending is humming along with trade and DIY customers boosting sales in the hardware and building supplies sector,” Ms Chapman said.

“Interestingly, we also saw higher regional growth for the Auckland, Waikato, and Wellington regions in this construction-related industry,” Ms Chapman added.

Eleven of the 15 retail industries had higher sales volumes in the June 2018 quarter. After building supplies, the next-largest rises were for food and beverage services (up 1.7 percent) and department stores (up 2.8 percent).

Of the four retail industries that fell in the latest quarter, supermarket and grocery stores was the largest (down 1.1 percent), then fuel (down 0.7 percent).

Retail sales values pick up in June

When the effects of price changes are included, the seasonally adjusted value of total retail sales rose 1.3 percent ($305 million) in the June 2018 quarter, after a modest 0.3 percent ($76 million) rise in the March 2018 quarter.

The majority of the 15 retail industries had higher sales values – 12 rose and three industries had minimal falls in the latest quarter.

Hardware and building supplies, up 4.9 percent ($99 million), and food and beverage services, up 2.7 percent ($78 million), led the increases. The only notable fall was in supermarket and grocery stores, down 0.5 percent ($23 million).

In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was $22.9 billion in the June 2018 quarter, up 3.8 percent ($834 million) from the June 2017 quarter.

The Government Statistician authorises all statistics and data we publish.

For more information about these statistics:
• Visit Retail trade survey: June 2018 quarter
• See CSV files for download

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