April Traffic Increases Fail to Convert into Sales
Monthly KRI Summary
Discover key insights in the latest Australian Kepler Retail Market Index for April 2026.
Comparison Period: The following insights are based on comparing the
five-week retail month of April this year (30th March – 26th April 2026) to the same period last year (31st March – 27th April 2025).
- Continued global uncertainty, elevated fuel prices, and rising interest rates appear to be weighing on consumer confidence, a trend that will continue to be closely monitored
- April’s weekly comparisons produced mixed results, with three of the four weeks impacted by differing calendar cycles. This was primarily driven by the timing of Easter, which fell between 30 March and 5 April in 2026, compared to 14-20 April in 2025, along with ANZAC Day shifting from a Friday in 2025 (creating a long weekend) to a Saturday in 2026
- Despite these weekly distortions, these timing effects are expected to normalise at a monthly level, providing a more representative view of underlying performance
Foot Traffic Trends:
- Passer-by traffic increased +1.2% YoY in April, broadly in line with the three-month average (+1.3% YoY). This uplift may reflect reduced driving activity amid higher fuel prices, supported by stronger performance across street-based locations, which recorded the largest increase among all location types
- In-store traffic declined -3.8% YoY in March, continuing the broader downward trend (3-month average: -2.2% YoY). The widening gap between external traffic and in-store engagement suggests weaker customer conversion into stores, consistent with declining consumer confidence
Sales Conversion Performance:
- Sales conversion declined -2.2% YoY in April, largely consistent with the previous month (-1.9% YoY), reinforcing the ongoing softening in conversion rates
Average Transaction Values (ATVs):
- Average transactions have fallen to -2.5%, a notable deterioration from the relatively stable three-month average decline of -0.6% YoY
Sales Performance:
- Sales declined -8.2% YoY this month, driven by continued weakness across in-store traffic, sales conversion, and average transaction values. The result reflects softer consumer confidence amid higher interest rates, elevated fuel prices, and ongoing economic uncertainty
About Kepler’s Retail Market Index
- Kepler’s Retail Market Index provides the most insightful and most timely view of retail industry performance across both Australia and New Zealand
- The index is based on anonymised data from Kepler’s Retail Foot Traffic Solution customers, primarily non-food specialty retailers
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