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Warning on dismal retail sales
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The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said ABS June Retail Trade showed a dismal 0.2 percent growth for the second month in a row and reflected stories of poor trade from retailers across the country.
ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the 0.8 percent sales volume growth for the June quarter also painted a bleak picture but looking at year-on-year growth would give the most accurate assessment of how retailers are travelling.
"When July results are posted next month we'll see how retailers fared during the first month of wage bill increases under the new retail award but we're already getting emails every day from retailers across the country saying this is one of the worst years of trade they can remember. If business doesn't start to improve, small retailers who are already struggling to hold onto staff will have to start making employment cuts.
"Retailers aren't so concerned with how their trade is faring compared to the month before - this will always vary. However, when retailers compare current trading conditions to the same time the year before they get a clear indication of how business is going.
"Retail sales across all states and categories have increased only 1.9 percent from June 2009 to June 2010. This is not real growth, it's well below healthy levels for the sector and it's a very real signal for the RBA to hold interest rates until retailers begin to post some significant and consistent growth.
"An even closer look at year-on-year retail sales for particular retail categories including clothing, footwear and personal accessories (-0.8), department stores (-1.6) and household goods retailing (-1.0%) shows a decline in trade from June 2009 to June 2010," Zimmerman said.
YEAR-ON-YEAR RETAIL GROWTH (June 2009 - June 2010)
Clothing, Footwear & Personal Accessory Retailing (-0.8%), Department Stores (-1.6%) Cafes, Restaurants & Takeaways (8.0%), Other Retailing (1.0%), Food Retailing (10.0%) and Household Goods Retailing (-1.0%).
MONTHLY RETAIL GROWTH (May 2010 - June 2010)
Household Goods Retailing (1.3%) recorded the largest seasonally adjusted increase in June followed by Department Stores (0.6%), Cafes, Restaurants & Takeaway Food Services (0.6%) and Other Retailing (0.3%). Sales in Clothing, Footwear and Other Personal Accessory Retailing (-1.2%) decreased in June after a strong result in May and Food Retailing (-0.3%) also recorded a small decrease in sales.
Victoria (0.6%) the Australian Capital Territory (0.5%) and New South Wales (0.4%) recorded the largest seasonally adjusted increases in June, followed by the Northern Territory (0.2%). Queensland (0.0%) and Western Australia (0.0%) both remained unchanged in June. Sales in South Australia (-1.0%) and Tasmania (-0.9%) both decreased in June.
For over 105 years, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body in Australia's $292 billion retail sector which employs over 1.2 million people.
Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041
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