Cars in driver’s seat in retailing
MOTORS AND MOUTHS
Shoppers are in top gear, revving up their spending on cars in the June quarter, helping to lift overall retail sales volumes by 1.2 per cent in the June quarter.
But it was not all one-way traffic, with sales down for clothing and footwear in the June quarter, after a mild start to winter, and spending was down on petrol, too.
Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) figures just out show the seasonally adjusted lift in total sales in the June quarter followed a 0.8 per cent gain in the March quarter.
Core retail sales, excluding cars and fuels, were stronger than expected, with a gain of 1.2 per cent. That was in line with a view that the economy was gaining steam earlier in the year, though may have cooled more recently.
Westpac Bank economists said that while the retail trade figures were better than expected, they would not stop the Reserve Bank from keeping official interest rates on hold because of the big falls in dairy export prices.
By region, there were strong gains in retail spending in the June quarter for Waikato and Canterbury, both up almost 3 per cent. But Wellington was weak, down 0.6 per cent in the three months.
‘‘The motor vehicle and parts retailing industry has driven this quarter’s increase [nationally] in both sales volumes and values, recording their largest increases in two years,’’ SNZ business indicators manager Neil Kelly said. Nationally, the gains in sector spending were almost across the board in 11 of 15 industries.
But the biggest move was in cars and parts, up 3.6 per cent in the June quarter by volume, the biggest increase for the industry in two years, SNZ said.
Sales values rose $73 million in the quarter, while cars and parts prices eased 0.7 per cent. Spending on food and drinks services rose a 2.7 per cent by volume.