The volume of overall retail sales in New Zealand was down a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2023, Statistics New Zealand said on Wednesday.
That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent following the downwardly revised 1.0 percent contraction in the previous three months (originally -0.6 percent).
The value of retail sales was up 4.7 percent on quarter.
On a yearly basis, retail sales fell 4.1 percent - again missing expectations for a gain of 3.6 percent following the 4.0 percent decline in the three months prior.
Nine of the 15 industries had lower seasonally adjusted sales volumes in the March 2023 quarter compared with the December 2022 quarter.
