Harvey Norman is the country’s leading furniture, consumer entertainment and IT retailer and it reported a worsening in its sales in the week to Sunday.
Last week it reported a drop in same store sales of 4.7% for the four weeks to October 12.
Yesterday it said that in the four weeks to October 19, same store (or like-for-like as Harvey Norman describes it) sales had slumped 5.8%.
"Retail margins continue to be under pressure," chairman Gerry Harvey said in a statement.
The company says it had franchise stores in every state and big town in Australia and that makes it a good barometer for the way people are feeling, and more importantly, spending.
For this reason, Harvey Norman has undertaken to update these figures for the next three weeks.
Harvey Norman shares rose 5c yesterday to close at $2.77 on a day when the overall market was up nearly 4%.
