According to trade data.
Retail sales growth is expected to grow in late 2018 after a slow-moving start to the year, according to figures published in the latest edition of the quarterly CHEP Retail Index, which uses transactional data from CHEP pallet movements to provide a lead indicator of Australian Bureau of Statistics retail trade data.
A recent pick up in pallet movements suggest retailers’ remain confident about the outlook on spending in the next quarter. Looking ahead, wage growth is likely to pick up as the labour market tightens further.
This outlook for improved wage growth, coupled with income tax cuts outlined in the 2018 budget, is good news for retailers, as it will allow for a modest but broad-based pick up in household spending power.
Providing commentary on the Index, Deloitte Access Economics partner, David Rumbens said, “Retailers continue to face difficult conditions in 2018. We do expect wage growth to edge higher through the year as the labour market tightens a little, and stronger wages will be good news for retail spending, driving a modest but broad-based pick-up in spending power across the workforce.”
CHEP Australia country general manager, Todd Montgomerie said, “We will continue to collaborate with our retail customers to support their physical and online markets, and to continue to identify and drive efficiencies in the supply chain to offset modest growth and support our long term growth strategy.”