Shopping Habits Hold Hope for Summer

January 13, 2012

Shopping Habits Hold Hope for Summer

If shopping habits at New Zealand’s largest hardware and gardening retailer are any indication, New Zealanders are still holding out hope for a drier summer while tidying up all those indoor jobs that have been previously put off.

Mitre 10’s General Manager Marketing Dave Elliott says national trends in sales post Christmas are showing some interesting patterns that will hopefully match the traditionally more settled weather patterns of February and March In the south, of course normal summer sales patterns have resulted.

“Sales of wooden outdoor furniture and barbecues have been going strong. This sales lift started in the last few days leading up to Christmas and was a clear contrast to the early December period when sales had been a bit sluggish.” says Mr Elliott. “To me that says we’re all still hoping for settled dry weather in February/March after the very wet December and early January across most of the country.

“The flipside of the wet weather is that sales of small power tools, power tool accessories like saws and sanders, and indoor paint and paint accessories are flying out the door. At one stage one of our big Mitre 10 Mega stores had such a run on those items that 183 stock lines had to be hurriedly restocked. That wet weather has also seen increased traffic through the stores and a busy time for the in-store Colombus Coffee cafes in our Mega Stores.”

As well as being New Zealand’s largest hardware retailer, Mitre 10 is also New Zealand’s largest garden supply chain but wet, humid weather is keeping the gardeners indoors, with one exception.

“We’re having a big run on pressure sprayers, particularly in the North Island where the warm, humid weather is bringing out the insects and weeds in the gardens and they need to be sprayed.”

Last year’s hot, dry summer created a run on fans and outdoor lighting across Mitre 10’s nationwide network of around 100 stores and Mr Elliott says a few days of good weather will create another flurry of demand for indoor fans.

“With Auckland Anniversary We14ekend coming up and Waitangi Day falling on a Monday this year we’re expecting a couple of very busy weekends where New Zealanders start buying up the necessary supplies for those big outdoor jobs like decking. They are traditionally big weekends for DIYers with home improvement locked into their DNA.”

ENDS

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