Bad santa lands on Kmart

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By Leith van Onselen

More evidence of weak Christmas trading has come to light, with Kmart recording its first like-for-like sales decline in years. From The Australian:

Like-for-like sales at Kmart for the December half have crashed to a fall of 0.6 per cent, against sales growth of more than 3 per cent for the same time last year and same store sales at Kmart of almost 5 per cent in late 2017…

There are fears other retailers could soon follow as they confess to their performance over Christmas and the new year in the face of downbeat consumers that are easing back on their spending habits thanks to stagnant wages growth and rising mortgage and lending costs.

Last week, Citi published the below chart showing a big decline in foot traffic into retailers across the Christmas and Boxing Day period:

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.