Presentation: quarterly update for the retail sales outlook in 2026

A turbulent year ahead

Published: 28 April 2026

The link provides a presentation associated with a webinar we held. The recording is embedded in the presentation and details our revised forecasts for retail in the year head. Since we last published our retail forecasts in January 2026, a lot has changed. Higher petrol prices and interest rates will lead to slower retail growth. We forecast retail sales growth of 4.0% for 2026, which is a revision down from 4.5% previously. On the surface it looks like a mild revision. However, the slowdown for non-food retail and dining out is larger at a one percentage point. Discretionary spending growth could slow by 3% by December 2026. The offsets to a more negative stance are higher inflation in food categories, unemployment remains low and households have savings buffers to deal with the pressures. There is a bear case where spending turns negative, but that requires recessionary conditions and an unsympathetic RBA and government.

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