Retailwatch May 2011

Welcome to Retailwatch for May 2011

To view the full report click here

This month’s report is seeing a plateau of certain categories from last month. Total retail spend in New Zealand for the 28 days ending 28 May 2011 was $2,264.3 million. This represents a decrease of 1.7% from the previous 28 days, but an increase of 4.4% from the 28 days ending 28 May 2010.

Superficially, May paints a similar picture to April - a 4.4% increase on May 2010 (April was 5.5%), and 1.1% increase when Fuel and Food are removed (April was identical). While it’s not surprising that fuel and food spend is higher, it also shows that discretionary spending is being put under pressure.There are some key differences among the categories: having stocked up on winter necessities last month, both Clothing & Footwear and Department stores are down against last year, despite 4% increases in April.

It seemed winter colds were upon us with the (10.3%) rise in Health goods & services nationwide. However, this pattern is not shared region to region… places like Gisborne are feeling the cold but health goods & services are down in Nelson. There were some remarkable regional performances this month when looking nationwide. Marlborough's Cafe/Restaurants/Bars are doing exceptionally well, as is Recreation in Northland, Travel in Nelson and the Tasman, Health Goods and Building Supplies in Gisborne, and Liquor Stores in the South Island. On the downside, outside of the wild spend swings in Canterbury, this month saw Furniture/Appliances/ Electronics take a hammering in Gisborne, Nelson's Health Goods & Services got walloped, and Home & Building Supplies were down almost 50% in Taranaki.

If you would like a copy of the Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan reports, email: retailwatch@datamine.com

Retailwatch can be used to monitor trends in specific categories that are relevant to you while also building a broader picture of the overall retail environment.

The team at Datamine can also help you explore further the impacts of retail industry trends on your business. If you have any questions or would like further information that would help support your business decision making needs, please don’t hesitate to call us.

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