Retail’s rollercoaster ride

Who is the most important person in retail at the moment? That’s right: the local postie or delivery driver getting all those online goodies to your door.

Retail stocks fell into two buckets as the pandemic developed. The early winners were mostly ecommerce players, benefitting from the closure of physical retail outlets. The later winners benefitted from buoyant consumer confidence, government support (such as JobKeeper) and fewer things for consumers to spend their money on.

Almost every retailer was a winner. But as we roll into the new financial year, both groups face headwinds.

Share prices of the early winners rose markedly as the pandemic took hold. Despite initial predictions of lower consumer spending, the closure