Australian inflation for the June 2022 quarter was 6.1% and retail inflation was 5%. Packaged grocery inflation was at its highest in more than 30 years and electronics, a category that is typically deflationary, showed inflation of 4%. The good news for retailers is that the inflation remains within a sweet spot with nominal sales growth supported by price rises and a very limited volume response. Expect more retail price inflation over the next six months.

Our view on retail sales is more positive over the next six months, but more cautious on calendar 2023. While the “fear” of higher interest rates makes headlines, the reality is the impact takes more than a year to show through as weaker spending. Near-term, higher wages, stored up savings and retail price inflation will support sales growth. We forecast retail sales to rise 3% in FY23e, down from 6% growth in FY22e. We expect FY23e household goods sales to fall 2%. Electronics, furniture, hardware will find it most difficult given the high baseline. Supermarkets should do well with food inflation driving 6% growth in FY23e. Two important swing factors are savings and inflation. A drop in savings to pre-COVID levels will help spending and inflation will partly offset lower volumes.

JB Hi-Fi provided a FY22e trading update with consistently strong sales and better gross margins in 2H22e. EBIT was 9% ahead of our forecast. The strength in sales, tightness of inventory and price rises make us more bullish in the near-term (FY23e) but more cautious on FY24e. With a net cash position, good dividend yield and low PE, we expect the stock to perform well.

Australian retail sales rose 10.3% in May 2022. While it is a slowdown from April’s growth rate of 11.1%, the moderation in growth is mild, particularly given the pressures on consumers from higher interest rates and petrol prices. The Easter boost to supermarkets, liquor and apparel has faded, but all categories did well in May other than takeaway food which was up only 2.5%. In our view, April 2022 was the peak of retail sales and growth will slow each month going forward. Negative headlines may hit sales briefly, but the more fundamental slowdown associated with lower household incomes is more a risk to 2023 sales growth.

As we enter the northern hemisphere summer, Australians are embracing travel again, but tourism spending is still far below pre COVID-19 levels. The drag on retail as consumers reallocate spending remains modest. Data shows airline capacity for Australia is still 15% below pre COVID-19 levels at June 2022 and much lower than that for international flights. The switch from retail to travel is likely to peak in 2023, in our view, adding to the headwind for retail next year.

Chart: Index of quarterly spending March ’22 vs December ’19 (selected items)

Source: ABS, MST Marquee. Shows quarterly data, seasonally adjusted.

Metcash reported FY22 sales of $17.4 billion and EBIT of $472 million. Adjusting for the 53-week in FY22, sales rose 4% and EBIT rose 16%. The results reflects higher price inflation across all divisions and a mix-shift towards the Hardware division, which has higher margins. Metcash has been able to hold onto much of its customer gains made during COVID-19. While we expect a lack of EPS growth over the next two years, the company’s competitive position has improved in each division.

There is much to debate about when retail sales slow, how far sales drop and how much margin downside will be associated with the sales weakness across the sector. We think the central driver of the debate is how quickly and far interest rates rise. In our base case (67% probability), the RBA reaches 2.5% cash rate by December 2022. In our downside case (33% probability), the cash rate reaches 4.5% by June 2023. There is downside risk to earnings for retailers over the next 18 months. We expect a volatile 12 months and advocate caution.

We expect the stock to perform well as the market better understands the benefits Metcash has from higher inflation, the fundamental improvement in its Food market share and multiple revenue drivers in Hardware. Metcash’s market share in grocery has been stable since 2018, a function of its retailers’ better relative price position and less aggressive store openings by rivals. In its Hardware segment, Metcash will benefit from Total Tools store rollout as an offset to a cyclical industry-wide decline in late FY23e.

Domino’s “rebasing” of sales is only one of the challenges facing the company over the next two years in our view. The company and franchisees face higher costs and store rollout could slow. The cost pressures that have built in the past six months are likely to lead to some margin pain for Domino’s as it preferences store rollout and market share growth.

While retailers and manufacturers have grappled with a range of cost pressures already, wage cost pressures are only starting to build now. In Issue 3 of Price Watch, we analyse the size and scope of likely wage pressure facing companies. As most retailers are inextricably linked to broader wage-setting mechanisms, we may see an additional 2%-3% higher annual wage inflation over the next two years. The companies with the highest sensitivity to wage inflation are Inghams, Costa Group, Coles and Woolworths.