December 2015: Retail Sales Increase By 0.5%

February 23, 2016

Retail sales in December 2015 increased 0.5 per cent above the $106.6 million recorded in December 2014, according to the recently released Retail Sales Index.

“Three out of the seven sectors experienced increases in sales revenue. Motor vehicle retailers registered the largest increase in sales of 30.8 per cent. In contrast, building material stores recorded the largest decrease in sales of 13.5 per cent.” the report said.

160223 December 2015 Retail Sales Publication-1

“Returning residents declared overseas purchases valued at $6.8 million, down 9.3 per cent when compared to December 2014. This contributed to a combined local and overseas spending of $114.0 million.

“After adjusting for the annual retail sales rate of inflation, measured at 1.6 per cent in December, the volume of retail sales decreased 1.1 per cent. Excluding Sundays, there were 24 shopping days during the month, one less than December 2014.”

The full 2015 December Retail Sales Index is below [PDF here]:

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Comments (3)

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  1. archy says:

    Retail sales increase by 0.5 percent but take inflation into account and they decrease – plus the increase is due to a massive hike in car sales which skews the figures
    Dunno, hope this is a blip but I for one will be holding back my spending with a payroll tax increase in the offing and on the back of HIP and social insurance increases last year.

  2. I heart 441 says:

    I’m turning into a OBA believer!!

  3. Reality Check says:

    Headline! Sales up 0.5%. Read on! Sales down 1.1%.

    Retail sales are flat-lining, not growing, as some increasingly desperate politicians would have us believe.