{"id":945184,"date":"2026-10-29T13:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945184\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:16:17","slug":"bunnings-jb-hi-fi-sales-slow-as-australians-cut-back-ahead-of-black-friday-sales-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/945184\/","title":{"rendered":"Bunnings, JB Hi-Fi sales slow as Australians cut back ahead of Black Friday sales, Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australians<\/a> appear to be tightening their grip on their wallets at a brutal time for retailers, with fresh figures suggesting shoppers are holding out for discounts before the pre-Christmas spending rush<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the country\u2019s biggest retailers are reporting weaker trading<\/a> heading into Black Friday and Christmas, with October proving particularly dismal for discretionary spending.<\/p>\n

\"Sale<\/p>\n

Some of the country\u2019s biggest retailers are reporting weaker trading heading into Black Friday and Christmas.\u00a0Max Mason-Hubers<\/p>\n

Nine finance editor Chris Kohler said the focus across the market has zeroed in on retail giants battling challenging conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it remains a tricky market, so trading updates outlining that fact weren\u2019t particularly surprising,\u201d Kohler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe companies behind Bunnings<\/a>, Kmart, JB Hi-Fi, Rebel Sport, and BCF all slipped. The bosses were largely talking about moderating sales in the September quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investors responded swiftly to the retail updates, with Wesfarmers shedding 4.9 per cent to $73.36 in early Thursday trade. Super Retail lost 3 per cent to $12.60, while JB Hi-Fi dropped 1.39 per cent to $70.77.<\/p>\n

Cost-of-living<\/a> pressures and expensive fuel are eating into household budgets, while bargain hunters are deliberately holding off until major discount events roll in.<\/p>\n

\u201cImportantly, that\u2019s not the quarter that includes Black Friday, which sees sales boom nationally,\u201d Kohler noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cNine out of 10 Australians say they\u2019ll shop the sales this year as saving a few dollars is high on the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported in the Australian Financial Review, JB Hi-Fi revealed Australian sales fell 1.4 per cent in the three months to September 30 compared with a year earlier, while The Good Guys declined 0.4 per cent before weakening further into October.<\/p>\n

\"bunnings<\/p>\n

Bunnings is also experiencing sluggish sales, with growth stalling in the three months to September 30.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Bunnings is also experiencing sluggish sales, with growth stalling in the three months to September 30.<\/p>\n

Kmart and Officeworks fared better, with first-quarter sales broadly in line with the same period last year.<\/p>\n

At Super Retail Group \u2013 which owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel Sport, BCF and Macpac \u2013 like-for-like sales growth crawled to just 0.2 per cent across the September quarter, down from 2 per cent a year earlier. <\/p>\n

Its outdoor brands took the brunt of the downturn: BCF fell 1.1 per cent, while Macpac plunged 11.7 per cent, which the company partly attributed to milder winter weather and promotion timing. <\/p>\n

Supercheap Auto bucked the trend with a 2.5 per cent lift, while Rebel edged up 0.3 per cent.<\/p>\n

The coming weeks will reveal whether Black Friday can coax hesitant shoppers into finally buying big-ticket items like appliances and electronics, or if households are cutting back for good.<\/p>\n

Compounding the pressure is the Reserve Bank\u2019s November 3 meeting<\/a>, with another cash rate increase looming after inflation came in above the central bank\u2019s target range.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australians appear to be tightening their grip on their wallets at a brutal time for retailers, with fresh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-945184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}