New Zealand’s economy was under intense pressure during the quarter after a long and sustained Reserve Bank of New Zealand rate hike cycle.

There was some relief earlier this month,

but not showing in these figures of course.

Q2 Retail Sales -1.2% q/q

expected -1.0%, prior +0.5%

-3.6% y/y

For core sales -1.0% q/q

expected -0.8%, prior +0.4%

Some of the points made by Stats NZ:

Eleven of the 15 industries had lower seasonally adjusted sales volumes in the June 2024 quarter compared with the March 2024 quarter.
Eleven of the 15 industries had lower seasonally adjusted sales values in the June 2024 quarter compared with the March 2024 quarter.
Fourteen of the 16 regions had lower seasonally adjusted sales values in the June 2024 quarter compared with the March 2024 quarter.

Ugly results.

New Zealand’s quarterly retail sales data provides a key indicator of the country’s economic activity, reflecting consumer spending across various retail sectors. This data is published by Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ).