With retail sales on the decline and the recently announced wind-down of long-standing fashion business Kate Sylvester, Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young confirmed that the rest of 2024 is going to be tough for retailers.
National research firm Stats NZ reported a further 0.7 per cent decline in retail sales for March 2024, based on electronic card transactions, to $6.51 billion.
Apparel matched motor vehicle sales with a 2.2 per cent decline each in respective retail sales.
Apparel also recorded the second largest figure drop for the month of $7.5 million, just below fuel sales at $7.7 million.
“The numbers reflect the difficult trading environment for retailers right now,” Young said. “It’s going to be a tough remainder of 2024 with the Reserve Bank indicating that there is some way to go before we will see cuts to the Official Cash Rate.
“While the trends of 2024 are mirroring those from 2023, the numbers are down year on year, despite inflationary pressures and high immigration numbers.
“It’s a worrying trend and the next six months will be critical to retailers being able to see through the year.”
These numbers come off the back of major retail collapses in the Australia/New Zealand region, including Tigerlily and Marquee Retail Group.
It also comes as the founders of New Zealand brand Kate Sylvester will “bow out” of the retail space after 31 years.
The company will sell its final-ever Summer 24 collection, business-as-usual, and will be wound up by mid-2025.
“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved,” founders Kate Sylvester and Wayne Conway shared in a statement. “Thank you to our customers for embracing our vision and making us the iconic NZ brand we have become.
“It has been our honour and privilege to create clothes worn and loved by multiple generations of women both everyday and for the most important moments in their lives.
“We started this company with literally nothing more than wild faith in each other and a dream to create clothes that people would wear and love. Since the day we opened the doors on that first store in Kitchener Street [Auckland] we have worked incredibly hard for three decades. And now we need to move on to a new chapter in our lives.
“Fashion is all about change, something we’ve never feared and always embraced. We want to go out the way we came into this business, still loving what we do and being truly happy to do it.”
Kate Sylvester operates six retail stores across New Zealand. It is also sold through David Jones in Newmarket and in Melbourne, Victoria.