Australian retail turnover rose 0.2 per cent in January 2017, in trend terms, following a 0.3 per cent rise in December 2016. Compared to January 2016, the trend estimate rose 3.2 per cent according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures. Victoria showed the strongest growth. We think the lift was thanks to bargains available in the January sales.
Clothing, footwear and personal accessories rose the most in trend terms.
But in seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in household goods retailing (1.4 per cent), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.1 per cent), food retailing (0.2 per cent), and other retailing (0.1 per cent).
These rises were offset by falls in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-0.4 per cent) and department stores (-0.5 per cent). This follows a fall of 0.1 per cent in December 2016.
The main contribution to the rise in household goods retailing was the Electrical and electronic goods industry subgroup, which rose 2.4 per cent in January in seasonally adjusted terms.
In seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in Victoria (1.1 per cent), New South Wales (0.2 per cent), South Australia (0.6 per cent), Western Australia (0.3 per cent), the Australian Capital Territory (1.2 per cent) and Tasmania (0.4 per cent). There was a fall in the Northern Territory (-0.8 per cent). Queensland was relatively unchanged (0.0%).
Online retail turnover contributed 3.6 per cent to total retail turnover in original terms.
