Christchurch Retail Trade Indicator
Data DictionaryAbstract
The Christchurch retail trade indicator is an experimental series. We release it to provide information on the state of the Christchurch retail trade industry after the earthquake sequence that began in September 2010. The statistics are provisional, because they reflect new methods that we may modify.
Purpose
The purpose of the series is to provide information on the state of the Christchurch retail trade industry following the Canterbury earthquakes that began in September 2010. We are releasing the results as an experimental series while work into the methods is ongoing.
We will publish the series indefinitely, depending on the level of customer demand and the characteristics of the Christchurch recovery.
Citation Information
Title
Christchurch Retail Trade Indicator
Creator
Statistics New Zealand: Business Indicators
Publisher
Statistics New Zealand
Rights
Statistics New Zealand
Coverage Information
Temporal Coverage
- 2011-12 to present
Topical Coverage
- Business statistics
- Macroeconomic statistics
- Economic accounts
- Retail
- Sales
- Stock
- Stores
- Earthquake
Frequency
Frequency
3 Quarterly
Significant events impacting this study series
Significant events impacting this study series
Standardising the RTS reference period to quarterly
From October 2003 to December 2010, we released the RTS data monthly. From March 2011, the RTS changed to a quarterly release. To produce data on a consistent basis, we changed the RTS data from October 2003 to December 2010 to a quarterly frequency by aggregating the RTS monthly data for each business to produce quarterly values.
Usage and limitations of the data
Usage and limitations of the data
We advise our customers to consider the following when analysing the Christchurch retail trade indicator series.
- We recommend focusing on changes and movements in the series rather than the actual level of activity – the series does not fully cover Christchurch businesses.
- The series is constructed using goods and services tax (GST) sales data from Inland Revenue, supplemented with RTS data. The GST data includes sales of retail goods and services and other income such as sales of capital items and businesses, and insurance payouts resulting from earthquakes (see insurance and depreciation). We are investigating ways to exclude sales of capital items, businesses, and insurance payouts from the GST data. Until this work is complete, we will exclude only large values that can be identified at aggregate levels, and the series will be released on a provisional basis.
- We publish data for two Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC) divisions: G retail trade, and H accommodation and food services. Although we refer to industries below this level in the commentary, the descriptions are only indicative. Data below this published level is not of high enough quality for statistical release.
