The total volume of New Zealand’s retail sales rose 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the country’s statistics office Statistics New Zealand said on Tuesday.
Excluding the vehicle-related industries, the volume of core retail sales rose 0.6 percent. However, clothing, footwear, and accessories retailing recorded a drop of 2.4 percent.
"Respondents to the Retail Trade Survey told us that the warm, dry start to autumn meant that shoppers held off buying cooler-season clothing and footwear," industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.
Despite the drop in clothing and footwear sales, the value of total retail sales rose 0.9 percent to NZD17.9 billion (USD14.79b) in the first quarter. Shoppers spent more in 9 of the 15 retail industries, with the largest rises in motor vehicle and parts (1.9 percent) and supermarket and grocery stores (1 percent).
Looking at the longer-term picture, the trends for both total retail sales values and volumes have been generally rising since mid-2009, after a period of sharp decline.