While retail sales remained subdued in May, household goods finally saw a modest increase after months of negative sales figures.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals May’s retail spending totalled $35.9 billion nationwide. Household goods are up 0.1 per cent year-on-year after five months of consecutive declines.
National Retail Association interim CEO, Lindsay Carroll, says the sales boost was a welcome change to what has otherwise been a grim year for retail.
“We’re pleased to see that consumer confidence is beginning to stabilise, we just hope the Reserve Bank won’t jump on these positive figures as a reason to raise interest rates again,” she says.
“Retail turnover rose for most states and territories with Victoria and Western Australia experiencing the largest trade increase of 1.2 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.
“While the sales boost is a positive indicator for consumer sentiment, it doesn’t change the desperate landscape retail business owners are currently facing.”
Indeed, Australians are doing it tough, facing an ongoing cost-of-living crunch and high interest rates, Australian Retailers Association chief industry affairs officer, Fleur Brown, adds.
“The ongoing cost-of-living pressures, interest rate ramifications and increased cost of doing business make it a challenging period, particularly for those in the discretionary retail sector and small to medium size businesses,” she says.
“Retailers are not only contending with slow consumer spending and higher costs of doing business, they are also battling a retail crime wave, ongoing labour shortages and continued supply chain pressures alongside the most intense changes to our workplace relations system in more than a decade.”
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