A flat Christmas for a sluggish retail sector

The retail sector has bounced following the Federal election, but the sector remains subdued with expectations that this will continue through the Christmas shopping period. Chris Stott, Chief Investment Officer at Wilson Asset Management, thinks online retail growth is slowing and the space is looking mature. In the US, online represents around 10-15% of retail sales his expectation is for Australia to follow. Pure-play online retailing has been tough, with Kogan, Surf Stitch, and Temple & Webster having "bombed out post-IPO" - the three are down an average of 62.3% from their IPO prices. "We think that a good mix of online with bricks & mortar stores is the way forward in the 5-10 years. We remain cautious on pure-play online retailers." Watch the full video for their weighting in the retail sector, and what CEOs have been saying.