Some hope for battered retail sector

Wednesday 9th February 2011

In a sign of hope for the battered retail sector, transactions using electronic cards surged a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in January.

That was the largest rise in five years and followed a fall of 1.2% in December, Statistics New Zealand said today.

For just the retail industries, and for the core retail sector which excludes vehicle-related industries, the increase was 2.4% in both cases.

It was the largest increase in retail since January 2006 and followed a 0.8% fall in December. The core retail rise was the biggest since December 2002, and followed a fall of 1.6% in December which was the largest fall since November 2002.

The actual value of transactions in the core retail series was up 5.2% in January from a year earlier.

The January increase in core retail was led by a 1.3% rise consumables, which includes food and liquor, and a 1.8% rise in durables such as furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing.

NZPA

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