Wanganui retailers battling tough economic conditions need to adapt to new shopping technologies, the Whanganui Employers' Chamber of Commerce says.
Figures released to the Chronicle from Statistics NZ show total retail sales in the region fell 9.4 per cent between the June and September quarters.
A year-on-year comparison from the Quarterly Retail Trade Survey showed a drop of 2.3 per cent for the three months to September 30.
Whanganui Employers' Chamber of Commerce president Jenny Duncan said competition with Palmerston North shops also made it difficult for local retailers.
As Palmerston North was relatively close to Wanganui, it was quite easy for people to make a quick shopping trip, Ms Duncan said.
"Those retailers who keep up with the trends in buyer behaviour will have the greatest chance of surviving, and better still, thriving.
"We live in a mobile community that is also happy to buy online. These challenges have to be met head-on to succeed."
Ms Duncan said local retailers would benefit from people choosing to shop in Wanganui, especially over the Christmas season.
Nationally, seasonally-adjusted retail sales dipped 0.8 per cent since the June quarter.
This was led by New Zealand's three largest retail industries: supermarket and grocery sales dipped 1.6 per cent, motor-vehicles and parts dropped 1.8 per cent and fuel retailing was down 1.9 per cent.
Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said the decline was relatively minor.
"It's not bad, especially as the New Zealand economy faces really significant headwinds."
The weak performance of the manufacturing sector combined with the preference for many "mums and dads" to pay off debt at the moment could have caused a much larger downturn, he said.
"The fact that you've seen really quite a moderate downturn in retail is actually quite an impressive performance."
A strong September month for the service industry may have offset the drop in sales, Mr O'Reilly suggested.
Christmas shoppers were also expected to boost sales in the coming months, he said.
Statistics NZ industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said shoppers spent less in more than half of the retail industries during the September quarter.
"The only industry we saw them spending significantly more in was hardware, building and garden supplies, which was lifted by higher sales in the Canterbury region."
Sales volumes in this industry rose 4.2 per cent.
While retails sales were down from the growth period of 2011, total sales were up during the last quarter year-on-year.
"Retail sales volumes remains 2.6 per cent higher than a year ago, when the Rugby World Cup was on," ASB economist Daniel Smith said.
"We expect moderate growth in spending to continue."
Mr Smith said the decline in supermarket sales would ease in the coming months.
"Other sectors were patchy, but we see no fundamental reason for the weakness in supermarket sales - the prime driver of the weak overall result - to continue in coming quarters."
- APNZ and APN News & Media
Total value of retail sales Wanganui district
September 2012 quarter: $151.5m
September 2011 quarter: $155.0m
Down 2.3 per cent
Source: Statistics NZ