From cars to coffee machines, here’s how Australian spending habits are weathering the high cost of living

Many Australian businesses are feeling the pinch as customers can no longer afford the armchairs, gadgets, clothing brands and new bathrooms they could before the cost of living shot up.
But spending patterns remain uneven, and at times counterintuitive, leading to a mixed corporate earnings season marked by subdued but not collapsing demand.
“There’s no doubt there’s some weakness, but the main thing is that most people still have a job,” said Luke McMillan, the head of research at Sydney-based Ophir Asset Management.
“They’ve generally been solid earnings so far, but we are not out of the woods in terms of a recession.”
Here are three things we’ve learned so far from the full-year reporting season that winds up at the end of August.