New Zealand retailers are feeling positive about their business performance in the lead-up to Christmas, even if more than half of retailers failed to hit their sales targets in the quarter ending September 30, according to the recently released Retail Radar retailer sentiment.
Greg Harford, Retail NZ’s general manager for public affairs, said notwithstanding the gloom of winter trading, retailers are feeling positively about the lead-up to summer, with three quarters of retailers expecting to meet or exceed their sales targets for the rest of the calendar year.
“There continues to be a sense of ongoing uncertainty about the economy, and there is real pressure on household budgets, but retailers are expecting trading conditions to improve in the run-up to Christmas,” Harford said.
Harford said retailers are also getting into the Christmas spirit.
“Over half of retailers who plan to decorate their stores for the festive season are planning to have their decorations up by the end of November, with 46 per cent planning to decorate in December,” he said.
“However, there is a significant number of retailers who are not planning to put up Christmas decorations at all, mainly because it doesn’t suit their store type or location, but a small number of retailers think that decorations look tacky or cluttered.”
According to Harford, about 23 per cent of retailers are planning to increase staff numbers over the next three months, but this is a significant drop on the 33 per cent reported at the same time last year.
“Reduced employment intentions may indicate that retailers are unable to meet the costs of additional staff, particularly given increases in the minimum wage, or that suitable staff are hard to find,” Harford said.
Harford said looking ahead to next year, there is likely going to be continued pressure on prices as a result of movements in the dollar, wage pressures and higher rates and insurance bills, so over time, this will flow through into retail pricing.
He said 41 per cent of retailers are expecting to move their prices upwards over the next three months.
