A tiny pre-GST boomlet can be seen in the latest retail sales figures – if you squint really hard and hold your head the right way.The June quarter retail figures, released by Statistics New Zealand today, show sales boosted by increases in the moto
A tiny pre-GST boomlet can be seen in the latest retail sales figures – if you squint really hard and hold your head the right way.
The June quarter retail figures, released by Statistics New Zealand today, show sales boosted by increases in the motor vehicle and appliance sectors.
Total retail sale values rose 0.5%, or $83 million, in the quarter, while core retail – which excludes the “lumpy” vehicle sale category and the highly volatile fuel category – rose 0.5%.
Core retail sale volumes – as opposed to values – rose 0.9%, reflecting aggressive discounting in some retail sectors.
When non-core areas are included, the volume of sales is up 1.3% – or $182 million – and is the largest quarterly increase in volumes since March 2007.
Vehicle sale volumes rose 4% for the quarter and 3.6% in value of sales. Alliance retailing saw a large rise in volumes – up 3.4% – but this appears driven in part by large discounting, as the rise in the value of sales was negligible.
In context, the trend for retail sales remains on the improvement track – total sale volumes have risen 2.9% since June last year, while total sale values are up 3.3% since the turnaround in March 2009.
With core sales, however, it is a different story. Yes, the volume of sales is up, even further – 2.9% since the turnaround last June.
However, the value of those sales, which showed some increase in the middle of last year, has gone flat since December 2009.
And the volume of sales – despite something of a spike in these latest figures – is still 4.1`% below its June 2007 peak.
On a regional basis, the value of sales in most parts of the country showed a modest increase in the quarter.
The one exception was Wellington, where the value of sales fell 0.8%, or $9 million.
The news in the latest figures is not all negative. The value of retail stocks is being built up, which is one point of optimism for the future.
The actual value of stocks was 3.2%, or $171 million, higher than at the same time last year, and is the second consecutive quarter to show an increase in the value of stocks.
