Retail Makes Strong Start to New Year

Australian retail turnover rebounded in January after a fall during the last month of 2022.

According to data from the ABS, turnover rose 1.9 per cent in January.

ABS head of retail statistics Ben Dorber said this followed a substantial fall of 4.0 per cent in December and a rise of 1.7 per cent in November.

“Looking through this volatility shows that turnover is at a similar level to September, 2022, and on average, growth has been flat over the past few months,” he said.

“November, December and January are the most seasonal months of the year, with retail activity heavily affected by the Christmas period and January holidays.

“This has been heightened by an increase in the popularity of Black Friday sales and growing cost of living pressures combining to drive a change in usual consumer spending patterns.”

Turnover rose in all industries, driven mainly by non-food industries rebounding from large falls in December.

Department stores had the largest rise (8.8 per cent), followed by clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (6.5 per cent), other retailing (2.9 per cent) and household goods retailing (1.1 per cent).

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose (1.2 per cent) to a new record high level following slowing growth in recent months.

“The continued return of large-scale sporting and cultural events in January, combined with high costs reflected in prices, has boosted sales in catering services which are part of the cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services industry,” Dorber said.

Food retailing had the smallest rise at 0.3 per cent.

Retail turnover rose across all states and territories, a reversal of last month’s declines across the country.