Retail Trade

Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in February, slightly less than the 0.4% pencilled in by market consensus. This followed a solid increase of 1.1% in January.

Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in January, less than the 1.5% consensus expectation. This followed a smaller than initially estimated decline of 2.1% in December. All major industry groups but food retailing saw gains in retail trade in January.

Retail sales volumes rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in Q4 2023, more than the 0.1% pencilled in by consensus. The rise in retail trade volumes was mainly driven by a 2.3% surge in household goods sales, which saw a 0.6% fall in prices due to promotional activity. Retail sales volumes fell by 0.3% QoQ in per capita terms, the sixth quarterly decline in a row.

Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 2.7% in December, significantly more than the 1.7% pencilled in by the market consensus. This was the strongest monthly decline since August 2020. All the major industry groups except for food retailing registered declines in December, more than reversing the November gains driven by Black Friday sales.

Retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 2.0% in November (exp. 1.2%), following a revised 0.4% fall in October (originally -0.2%).

Retail trade declined a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in October, against market expectations of a 0.1% uptick. This followed three months of increases, including solid gains in July and September. The decline was broad-based, with food retailing the only industry to register a gain. Western Australian retail trade rose by 0.7% MoM and 3.5% YoY, in both cases most of all states.