Retail Sector Sluggish During Second Quarter

Retail sector activity remained sluggish during the 2nd quarter of 2019, according to Retail NZ's latest Retail Radar report.

“A continuing pattern of business uncertainty coupled with the lack of desire to spend from consumers saw 58 per cent of retailers report that they failed to hit their sales targets in the latest Retail Radar report,” Retail NZ Chief Executive Greg Harford said today. "While the end of 2018 was relatively positive, has not continued for the first half of 2019, which means a great deal of pressure to meet annual targets will be on retailers during the second half of the year.”

"Retailers continue to face higher costs on the back of increases in the minimum wage, which rose to $17.70 on 1 April, and 27 per per cent of retailers they expect to employer fewer staff over the next three months. Retailers are generally looking ahead with more pessimism than before when it comes to achieving next quarter’s sale targets. For the first time in recent years, we are seeing more retailers report that they do not think they will meet or exceed sales targets for the next three months."

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1908/RetailRadarReport_SecondQuarter2019.pdf

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