Apparently, the retail sector is booming, but try telling this to the every day retailers who sell clothing and food.

You see the actual boom in retail is more your ‘appliance retailers’ as opposed to the regular retail sector.

Now the even more frustrating thing about this is that a vast majority of these sales are the old ‘buy now, pay latter’ interest free deals and, thanks to this surge in ‘retail’ as it is classified, the rest of us face the likely prospect of yet another interest rate hike, even though many of us don’t but goods this way.

I think it’s about time something is done to stop this never ending ‘line of credit’ type marketing as there is little doubt these schemes target money that would be better spent on food and essentials for the kids it was intended for.

Meanwhile, the 'real retail sector' will continue to suffer and the cost of general goods will continue to rise thanks to rising costs.

This is the problem rehctub.Much of our employment is in retail,service industries and construction.We have little manufacturing left.If we stop consuming Chinese products,we lose too many jobs.So we continue to increase our debt through stimulus packages to keep our jobs.It is false a economy.

To address the housing and debt problem I would insist on a deposit of 25% for a house,release more land and remove stamp duty.This will increase our savings,reduce debt and stabilise house prices.House orices are way over inflated.A rapid train transports systems from regional areas to our cities will also reduce house prices.

At the moment prospective first homebuyers would be better off renting,and play the share market very carefully.There will be another property collapse in the USA and it may well happen here.

Rehctub, to be really honest, I think you are perhaps missing the
point as to what is really going on out there.

Consumers signing 4 year pay nothing agreements are not spending
anything today, that is about money they will earn in 4 years, so
should not affect your sales.

Fact is that right now the consumer electronics section is throwing
up some incredible bargains, so people are reacting to value for
money. One retailer on tv claimed that lcd/plasma screens which
cost 12 grand some years ago, were now available for 785$, so
people were snapping them up for good reasons!

But something else is happening, not just here, the US is leading
the trend. Consumers today are ever more spoilt for choices.
More and more are shopping online. Clothes, electronics, you name
it, its convenient, it involves less costly rents, so thats
your first problem.

Secondly, in the US, everyone is flocking to value for money.
So high margin businesses are losing, meantime Walmart, Costco
etc, are thriving. They can do the same, cheaper.

Next in food you have your farmers markets, home delivery etc,
all snapping at the wallets of the consumer dollar, cutting in to
your high cost model.

The net outcome in the US is that small retailers in smaller
shopping centres, are having to shut their doors.

In Australia? Well we'll see, but I'd be surprised if things turn
out much different.

The most permanent thing in life is change, ignore it at your peril.

Don’t forget the population growth factor. This leads to ever-bigger turnover, all else being equal, which can give a false indication of good times for the retail (or any) sector, while there may be a much smaller or no average per-capita gain or even an average per-capita loss.