Retail sector gathers pace

The retail sector has regained much of its strength according to the 14th AFGC Chep Retail Index, which shows year-on-year retail sales growth was 5.2 per cent in the June quarter.

Although this was a slight dip from a March quarter high of 5.8 per cent, the Index showed a 4.9 per cent year-on-year growth for the month of June.

In January, the Index indicated a year-on-year increase of 4.2 per cent for the month of February 2014 and a 4.2 per cent year-on-year increase for the March 2014 quarter.

The June year-on-year turnover was $23.11 billion, up from $23.01 billion in March.

The new national forecast is also upbeat. Growth is expected to remain at the current pace, with a rise of 5.1 per cent forecast for both the September quarter and month of August, with a turnover of $23.32 billion forecast in August.

“It's pleasing to see growth is still quite strong at around five per cent given that this period includes the impact on consumer sentiment of the May Federal Budget. Interest rates continue to remain low, and the labour market is picking up, so our expectation is 2014/15 will be a good year for retailers,” Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) chief executive officer, Gary Dawson said

CHEP Australia & New Zealand president, Phillip Austin, said: “Although some states are doing it tougher than others, we’re delighted that CHEP’s data insights are showing retail sales growth will continue to be strong overall in the next quarter. We will continue to work with manufacturers and retailers across the country to find increased supply chain efficiencies to support growth in the food and grocery retail sector.

View the Chep Index here.

By comparison, the NAB online retail index grew by 0.2 per cent in May, after a small decline in April and is 5.1 per cent higher, compared to one year ago. According to its calculations, comparable sales growth at traditional retailers slowed in April, to be at 0.1 per cent, compared to 0.4 per cent in March.

In the 12 months to May 2014, Australians spent $15.3 billion on online retail. This, the NAB index report states, is equivalent to 6.6 per cent of spending at traditional bricks & mortar retailers as measured by the ABS (excluding cafés, restaurants and takeaway food, to create a like-for-like comparison) in the 12 months to April 2014.

View the NAB Index here.