Retailers record healthier sales in 2Q17

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 5): Malaysian retailers posted sales growth of 4.9% in the second quarter of 2017 (2Q17), well within their projection and an improvement over a dismal 1Q17 when overall retail sales contracted by 1.2%.

The improvement was also in line with improved GDP of 5.8% from 5.6% in the first quarter and improvements in the Consumer Sentiments Index at 80.7 points from 76.6 points in the previous quarter.

"After a dismal performance in the first three months, the retail industry managed to recover slightly during the second quarter," Retail Group Malaysia's managing director Tan Hai Hsin said in the latest Malaysia Retail Industry Report (August 2017) released this morning.

He attributed the better performance to the Hari Raya shopping, which helped boost sales in May, coupled with heavy price discounts offered by retailers.

Retail sales growth in the first six months was 2.5%, buoyed by improved performance in all retail sub-sectors in 2Q17. Five out of the six subsectors, which saw sales shrink in 1Q17, did better in the April-June period.

The department store category improved to 15.1% compared to 0.1% contraction in the January-March period. The department store-cum-supermarket also improved to 4.1%, supermarket and hypermarket posted a 0.8% growth, fashion and fashion accessories rose 2.5% and other specialty stores grew 6.3%. The pharmacy and personal care category continued its positive growth trend in 2Q17 too, clocking in a 7.9% increase.

According to Tan, the supermarket and hypermarket sub-sector saw an improvement due to heavy price discounts offered by the grocery retailers to improve sales. However, he pointed out that this saw its profit margin for the quarter erode. — theedgemarkets.com

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