Message from the CEO: 18 April 2017

In recent months a number of Australian newspapers and blogs have been identifying international companies that are looking to enter the Australian retail market. Retail giant Amazon is expected to open their doors on Australian soil sometime later this year.  The Australian Financial Review (AFR) has published a number of articles since November 2016 relating […]

February Retail Figures Show Narrow Growth

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) retail trade figures for February released today show negligible change from the previous month, indicating that the retail sector is still operating in a challenging environment. According to the ABS, the seasonally adjusted trend estimate fell 0.1 per cent in February. In trend terms, each state experienced a narrow […]

Retail sales improve as temperatures plummet

South-east Australia has recently seen temperature plummet with wild weather bringing howling winds and light snow showers, even in the sunshine state of Queensland. Heaters have been dusted off and ugg boots finally seeing the light of day with weeks of winter chill predicted. Retailers however, should not start dreaming of summer just yet. The […]

2016-2017 Federal Budget in depth

Last Tuesday the Federal Government handed down the 2016-2017 budget. With a strong focus on the future and providing help for small and medium enterprises, the government has committed to reducing the company tax rate over the next decade. The small business threshold will be raised from $2 million to $10 million turnover and increasing […]

Message from the CEO: 4 March 2016

The retail trade figures for January, released today, showed a steady start to the year with an increase in turnover 0.3 per cent for the month, seasonally adjusted, and a 4.0 increase compared with January last year. This steady, if not spectacular, growth is welcome as we see consumer sentiment stabilising and spending patterns becoming […]

Message from the CEO: 6th November 2015

It’s just seven weeks until Christmas, and no doubt you are already well and truly gearing up for what I hope will be a very prosperous time of the year. Yesterday, I released to the media the economic forecasts done by the NRA’s in-house research team, looking at the likely outcomes for the pre-Christmas sales […]