Retail trouble bubbling under Down Under
Australian retailers are in for a difficult year, according to a quarterly report by Deloitte, which expects little to no growth for the period
Australian retailers are in for a difficult year, according to a quarterly report by Deloitte, which expects little to no growth for the period. This is bad news for SA retailers like Woolworths and TFG, which have significant operations there. Deloitte Access Economics’ latest quarterly “Retail Forecasts” expects retail turnover growth to slip from 2.2% in calendar 2018 to a more modest 1.6% growth in 2019, before lifting back to 2.2% growth in 2020. This is despite sales for bricks and mortar retailers in February rising 0.8% month on month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. “The rise this month follows subdued results in December 2018 (-0.4%) and January 2019 (0.1%),” said the bureau’s director of quarterly economy wide surveys, Ben Faulkner. The slight rise in February sales should not be seen as a turnaround for the sector, warned independent retail analyst Syd Vianello. He said it would be best to wait for another two to three months to get a better understan...
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