Any discussion on
the difficulties of retailing at QVM will usually involve a trader saying “Things
are just as bad out in the shopping centres and on the high streets” and you
find yourself wondering if that is really true. Well, new data suggests that it
is true.
The Australian
Industry Group’s Performance of Services Index (which includes retail) stood at
47.5 for December. The index works on 50 as a median point with anything above
50 signifying expansion and anything below 50 indicating contraction.
There are a number
of sub-categories in Services and, as you would expect, Health and Community
Services expanded although it was the only sector to do so. Hospitality and Personal
and Recreational Services remained very close to 50 points but Retail declined
further to 43.9 points. Weak local economic conditions, fragile consumer and
business confidence, and slower growth in household disposable income are all
seen as factors.
A recent report in The
Age has suggested that even our glamour mining states, WA and Queensland, have
been really struggling as lower commodity prices and reduced investment impacts
on the local labour markets. The old adage of a two speed Australian economy
with mining states booming, and the other states stagnant, appears to be under
question and that has implications particularly for the top end of QVM where
interstate tourism is so important.
If we need some good
news, then lower petrol prices are significant. The reduction of around 40c per
litre over the last year translates to savings of $6.8 billion for the Australian
economy according to The Age and that means more disposable income for our customers..