Welcome to Retailwatch for November 2011
To view the full report click here
There were no particular surprises in November’s retail spending, with all categories showing a small increase except Books & Stationery and Recreation & Entertainment, which continue to struggle compared to the same month last year. The only category up significantly against November 2010 is Fuel & Service Stations, which is of course no shock.
Furniture stores and Department stores have staged a bit of a comeback with positive year-on-year results and Cafes/Restaurants/Bars continue to show growth. Regionally, everywhere but Hawkes Bay had growth in Cafes/Restaurants/Bars spending, and everywhere but Nelson/Marlborough lost ground in Recreation & Entertainment. Nationally, Supermarket spend was up 1.8%, but this was not evenly spread as spending was up 4.1% in the South Island compared to 1.1% in the North Island.
Clothing & Footwear spend was mixed regionally; the only standout was Canterbury which had numbers over 10% higher than last November. Department Stores and Furniture, Appliances, & Home wares stores also did very well in Canterbury in a month where most other regions were around flat. Health Goods spending took a hammering in the Northland Region, but the rest of the country was generally positive…
