THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan believe Aussies will continue their summer shopping long after Christmas day, predicting consumers to spend $17.9 billion nationwide from December 26, 2017 to January 15, 2018 and forecasting shoppers to increase their post-Christmas spend by 2.9 percent.

Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the ARA, said he is looking forward to a substantial post-Christmas trade as bargain hunters seek out both online and physical retailers for the best deals across the industry.

“Traditionally pre-Christmas sales are an exciting time for retailers, however, post-Christmas sales are that extra cherry on top for many retailers trying to increase their yearly sales and meet targets before they head into the new year,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“With Amazon’s recent Australia launch, we are certain that online retail will be a driving force for post-Christmas sales with the ARA and Roy Morgan forecasting the Other Retailing category to increase by more than 4 percent this year.”

According to the ARA and Roy Morgan’s Annual Post-Christmas Trading Predictions, Other Retailing, Food Retailing and Hospitality Retailing will see the biggest sales growth across the industry this year.

“We are expecting Food Retailing to see a 3.4% spike in sales during the post-Christmas trading period, as many food retailers will be discounting their fresh produce post-Christmas for families spending time at home during the holidays,” Mr Zimmerman said

“Our in-depth research with Roy Morgan also forecasts a 2.8% increase for Hospitality Retailing, as market research has identified the summer holidays are an exciting time for Australians to celebrate the end of the year with their friends at cafés and bars across the country.”

New South Wales will see the strongest post-Christmas sales growth with the ARA and Roy Morgan predicting the region to spend almost $6 billion after Christmas; a 4.2 percent increase in New South Wales sales from last year.

“We are also expecting Victorian retailers to see a 3.3 percent spike in post-Christmas sales this year as Victoria is the fashion capital of Australia,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are also likely to receive a substantial increase in post-Christmas sales, as Australians across the country will be seeking retail bargains both online and in-store.”

Every year, the ARA proudly partners with Roy Morgan Research to deliver the only professionally researched retail figures in the industry, with proven year-on-year results.

“Although there have been various disruptions to the Australian retail market throughout the year, we look forward to seeing our pre-Christmas and post-Christmas predictions come to fruition when the retail trade figures are released in the new year,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“With online retail accounting for more than 7% of total retail sales, we urge retailers to understand the new technologies available to them, including Roy Morgan’s new Audiences tool which assists retailers in measuring their digital audiences in peak shopping periods like post-Christmas trade.”

ARA and Roy Morgan Research post-Christmas sales predictions

December 26, 2017 – January 15, 2018

2017/2018 Post-Christmas sales growth by category

[ARA / Roy Morgan]

2017/2018 Post-Christmas sales growth by state

[ARA / Roy Morgan]

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Australian Retailers Association (ARA) welcomes the announcement from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to re-authorise an amended Casual Mall Licensing Code of Practice (Code) today. The Code in its current form has led to a number of issues for retailers and the unfair introduction of external competitors to shopping centres across the country.

The ARA’s long running campaign to change the Code has resulted in a victory for retailers battling against unscrupulous landlords. The ARA sought to make changes to the Code’s dispute resolution process, as well as the Code Administration Committee, which has been ineffective at administering and maintaining the Code over the last five years.

The ongoing issues with the Code have led to the unreasonable introduction of external competitors to shopping centres, especially at peak periods, which is hurting retailers and disrupting their businesses.

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said the ACCC had delivered a win for retailers just before Christmas, the busiest time of the year for the industry.

“The news couldn’t come soon enough for retailers, who have endured skyrocketing rents and a barrage of pop-up shops right outside their stores at some of the busiest times of the year,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“We now have a mandate from the ACCC to push ahead with making the necessary changes to the Code to ensure it is fair for everyone concerned.”

The ARA would like to thank the Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA), Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) and Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) for their ongoing support in amending the current Code.

Mr Zimmerman said he was quite stunned to see the National Retailers Association (NRA) abandon retailers in favour of their landlord friends at the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA).

“It was astounding to see the NRA standing on the side of unfair competition and supporting the standover tactics of landlords when it comes to pop-up shops,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“The ACCC have had to drag landlord advocates like the NRA to the adult’s table this Christmas. However, these efforts have not gone unnoticed as shopping centres will no longer be able to introduce unfair competition, or bully their tenants into submission when they make a reasonable request.”

The FCA and PGA will now join the ARA on the CAC, ensuring a fair and balanced approach to casual mall leasing.

“The ARA will continue to seek fairness across the tenancy space for retailers and will ask the ACCC for regulatory intervention if the current issues are not addressed,” Mr Zimmerman said

“The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. All parties to the Code need to work together to address its issues, and ensure it operates in the interests of fairness for retailers across the board.”

To view the ARA’s submission to the ACCC, please click here.

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $310 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 7,500 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) has issued its pre-Budget 2018/19 submission to Government with key recommendations around holistic tax reform; state-backed loan guarantee schemes; publicly supported venture capital funding; investment in innovation; and legislating payment times to benefit small business.

“The IPA continues to put the case forward for major tax reform which has been a pill too hard to swallow for the major political parties,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“We are calling on the Government to deliver the much promised and almost forgotten tax reform white paper to take a long term view and encourage genuine public debate on tax reform.

“One of the main considerations is a rebalancing of the tax mix.

“We are also asking the Government to introduce a state-backed loan guarantee scheme to help increase the availability of much-needed affordable loan finance to the small business sector. 

“In addition, we are recommending that the Government introduce a publicly supported venture capital (VC) fund in order to encourage the private sector to follow the Government’s lead in boosting the entrepreneurial culture. 

“We also believe that the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda can be furthered by encouraging innovation policy to support innovative small to medium enterprises in Australia,” said Mr Conway.

Further information on the IPA’s recommendations can be found at http://bit.ly/2BU30Jm

publicaccountants.org.au

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THE proposed increase in registration fees for new auditors of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) appears to be excessive according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA). 

“A one-off fee increase from $107 to $3,429 is exorbitant.  Even more unfathomable is that an auditor exiting the sector will be hit with a deregistration fee of $899,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“The ATO currently already collects $259 from each SMSF to finance the SMSF monitoring role the ATO conducts on behalf of ASIC.

“This levy was a mere $45 in 2008 but now equates to approximately $142.5M (550,000 SMSFs multiplied by $259) to monitor the sector including SMSF auditors.

“In 2011/12, the Government provided ASIC with $10.7M over five years, to develop and maintain an online registration system for auditors of SMSFs.  ASIC also developed a competency exam for auditors, enabling ASIC to deregister non-compliant auditors.

“The Government also gave the ATO $10.6 million over five years to police registered auditors, check their compliance with competency standards set by ASIC and where necessary, refer non-compliant auditors to ASIC for appropriate punishment.

“Some of the funding for the SMSF auditor registration process was also sourced by ASIC charging auditors to sit the SMSF auditor competency exam.

“Surely, the fee increases under the proposed fees-for-service funding model must take into account the money already being collected via the ATO supervisory levy.

“While we understand the objectives of the new funding model and the role of ASIC, we have a major concern over the impact these fees will have on competition, especially when there has already been a decline in the number of SMSF auditors in a market which is being dominated by the major players.

“SMSF auditors, who are members of one of the three professional accounting bodies, such as the IPA, are already well regulated in our co-regulatory system, which requires them to maintain their professional and ethical standards.

“We are calling on the Government to reconsider the proposed fee increases which will deter new entrants from entering the market,” said Mr Conway.

publicaccountants.org.au

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