Optimistic Christmas Season for Retailers

As the “ber” months roll in, Sydney retailers are getting ready for the Christmas rush.

The results of the Dun and Bradstreet National Business Expectations survey showed that retailers are optimistic that sales will go up this coming Christmas. Expectations on sales for the December quarter are up by 50 points. This is a big jump from the five points from last year’s as reported by the Dun and Bradstreet index.

Compared to December quarter last year, the business profit expectations are also up from negative one to a plus 11 this year.

With the price discounts retailers are giving out, rise in sales are expected. In fact, according to Chief Executive Gareth Jones of Dun and Bradstreet, the June quarter ended at a high note and retailers are hopeful that this will spill over to the next quarter.

It is important to note, though, that the high expectations are hinged on the “continuation of discount campaigns” that will lower the prices during the Christmas season.

Furthermore, the survey also showed that retailers worrying over the high value of the dollar came down from 49 percent to 35 percent.

On Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics stated that the retail spending for July went down by 0.8 percent compared with the 0.2 percent growth expectations for the month.