Minimal growth for the retail sector in April has indicated the industry may still be facing difficult times, according to statistics released by The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
According to the ABS, retail turnover rose 1.0% during April following a fall of 0.2% in March 2017.
The seasonally adjusted estimate for apparel rose 0.3%, however the trend estimate fell 0.4%
By industry subgroup, the trend estimate fell for both clothing retailing and footwear and other personal accessory retailing by 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.
The seasonally adjusted estimate rose for clothing retailing by 1.5% and fell for footwear and other personal accessory retailing by 2.2%.
There was a slight increase for the retail sector, in seasonally adjusted trend terms, across all states and territories with Queensland showing the strongest growth at 2.4%, while New South Wales sat at only 0.1% showing negligible improvement.
Department stores experienced the highest growth with 2.5%, seasonally adjusted.
NRA CEO Dominique Lamb said the figures released today highlighted the difficulties the retail sector is facing and that businesses were still operating within a challenging environment.
“The lack of consumer confidence within the Australian retail sector continues to gain momentum.
“The introduction of Amazon, coupled with the discussion on penalty rates and trading hours has created a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the industry for consumers and retailers alike,” she said.
The NRA predicts that retail trade figures will increase alongside consumer confidence with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision in May to hold interest rates at an historic low of 1.5%.