Increase in retail transactions led by fuel

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the value of electronic card transactions in the retail industries increased 0.7 percent in November 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. Automotive fuel retailing was the main contributor to this increase, but there were also smaller rises in the apparel (clothing, soft-goods, and footwear retailing), services (personal and household services, including hire and repair), and durables (which includes furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing) industries.

Transactions in core retail (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) also increased in November 2009, by a lesser 0.3 percent. Although most retail industries showed higher sales in November, there were offsetting falls in the consumables (which includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing) and hospitality (which includes accommodation, bars, cafes, and restaurants) industries.

When the non-retail industries are included, the total value of transactions was flat (down just 0.1 percent), following the previous flat result (up just 0.1 percent) in October 2009. The non-retail industries (which includes services such as travel and health, and wholesaling) were down 1.8 percent in November 2009. 

Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009. Latest figures indicate that the growth rate for the retail series has picked up since July 2009, while the growth rate for the total series appears to have eased considerably in recent months. For the core retail series, the trend has been comparatively flat since May 2009, up 1.1 percent since then. 

Geoff Bascand 9 December 2009

Government Statistician