Core retail sales fell almost 1% year-on-year, the second substantial fall in the past three months. Retailers generally are finding it tough going in a market where the recovery is showing every sign it will be a slow grind out of the recession. Data for February 2010 released today by Statistics NZ clearly shows that retail sectors as varied as supermarkets, department stores, furniture stores, shoe stores, and bars and clubs all had year-on-year sales declines. Even petrol retailing was anemic. The standout exception was that we seem to be buying cars again at our regular rate - that grew by more than 12%, although that was off a weak base of car sales a year earlier. The core retail sales trend is falling for the first time since 1995, down 1.0% since October 2009. “This is the second notable decrease in core retail sales in the past three months, and follows the record drop of 2.0 percent in December 2009,” a spokesperson for Statistics NZ said. Seasonally adjusted retail sales came it at -0.6% month-on-month whereas economists were expecting -0.3%
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