Retail sales tumble as battle-weary Aussie consumers change buying habits and refuse to splurge

THE days of the big-living, free-spending Australian could be over for good, as lower prices fail to entice the vast chunk of battle-weary consumers to revive their splurging habit.Research numbers show even the lowest prices on items such as televisions, shoes and clothes - either online or in store - are not enough to resurrect big-spending habits of the early 2000s. Instead the hope for such retailers seems to be on a smaller section of people not old enough to have been hurt by falling stock prices, job losses or price shocks of the past decade. http://m.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/retail-sales-tumble-as-battleweary-consumers-change-buying-habits-and-refuse-to-splurge/story-fnihsrf2-1226676165916