Retail spending up despite higher bills.

 

While cost-of-living expenses are clearly considered the major concern of Australian families, two recent research reports present a fuzzy picture of overall consumer confidence.

 

According to latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, retail spending rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year in April as consumers spent more than $35.2 billion in stores and online, 

 

Although discretionary spending was low, restaurant and cafe services continued to do well.

 

Other retailing spending increased by 0.2 per cent while sales of household goods declined by 4.9 per cent.

 

Australian Retailers Association CEO Paul Zahra said several categories showed “reasonable” year-on-year sales growth despite softer sales.

 

“Cost-of-living pressures are the greatest current concern for retailers and their customers and this continues to affect retail sales – a trend we expect to see continue in the coming months,” he said.

 

 Zahra flagged that price increases will have an impact on margins despite the positive results this month.

 

Meantime, the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index lifted slightly to 77.3 last week but has now spent twelve straight weeks below the mark of 80. 

 

This is among the worst ten results since January 2020, according to ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell. 

 

“This highlights the impact of cost-of-living pressure and rising interest rates, despite low unemployment and an acceleration in annual wage growth,” Timbrell said.

 

Around the states, consumer confidence was up in Victoria, Queensland, WA and SA but down in New South Wales.

 

Only eight per cent of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 39 per cent that expect ‘bad times’.