Retail sales edged upwards again in November, giving further fuel to the country's “recovery story”.Figures released this morning from Statistics New Zealand show total retail sales grew 0.8% ($46 million) in November. Core retail – tha
Retail sales edged upwards again in November, giving further fuel to the country’s “recovery story”.
Figures released this morning from Statistics New Zealand show total retail sales grew 0.8% ($46 million) in November. Core retail – that is, retail figures with the four automotive-related groups stripped out – also grew by 0.8% ($34 million).
The figures are compiled from a survey of 3,500 retailers around the country.
The increases are not evenly spread: Auckland, which has had the best regional retail sales over recent months, was the only region to report a slump in November.
Overall, the rise follows two months of flat results. The trend though has been upwards since February last year, since when sales have risen 2.5%, or 0.3% a month. That followed a 3.3% fall the previous 12 months.
For these latest figures, the largest increases were automotive fuel retailing (up 3.8% ($20 million). Sales have been increasing since July 2009, with an average 0.6% increase each month.
That follows a 18.2% fall the previous 12 months.
The “other retailing” category – which includes antique and used goods, flowers, garden supplies and watches and jewellery – was the second largest increase in terms of dollars, with sales rising 7.3% ($17 million).
Department store sales rose 3.5% ($11 million) and liquor sales rose 9% ($9 million).
The bulk of these have been rising since July last year: the one exception is liquor sales, which has been falling since April 2009. The up-tick in November is not a pre-Christmas splurge as the figures are seasonally adjusted.
On a regional basis, the only area which saw a downturn in sales was Auckland, down 0.5%. That is something of a turnaround: Auckland retail sales have risen 5.1% since January last year, although the rate of increase has slowed over the past two months.
Conversely, Wellington, where retail sales have been hit harder than any other region (down 6.1% since August 2008) showed an increase of 1.5% in November.
That was second only to the South Island outside Canterbury, which reported an increase of 2.3%.
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