DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec Qtr 2008	Sep Qtr 08 to Dec Qtr 08
		$m	% change
Turnover at current prices
	Trend estimates	55 370.5	0.7
	Seasonally adjusted estimates	56 031.0	1.8

		Dec Qtr 2008	Sep Qtr 08 to Dec Qtr 08
		$m	% change
Turnover, in volume terms
	Trend estimates	53 355.1	0.3
	Seasonally adjusted estimates	53 503.1	0.8

Quarterly turnover, Current prices - Trend estimates: Trend estimates

Quarterly turnover, in volume terms - Trend estimates

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


INTERPRETING RETAIL TRADE TREND ESTIMATES

• The trend series in this publication should be interpreted with caution as, in addition to the December quarter impact, the underlying behaviour in retail activity may have been impacted by the Federal Government Economic Security Strategy Package implemented in December 2008. The stimulus package was implemented in a period when other influences associated with global economic conditions may also have been impacting on Retail trade. See Interpreting Retail trade trend estimates section for more details.

CURRENT PRICES

• The trend estimate of turnover for the Australian Retail series increased by 0.7% in the December quarter 2008. This follows a revised increase of 0.6% in the September quarter and an increase 0.5% in the June quarter 2008.
• In the December quarter 2008 the Food retailing (+1.8%), Department stores (+0.3%) and Other retailing (+1.3%) industries had an increase in the trend estimate while the Clothing and soft good retailing (-0.2%), Household good retailing (-0.7%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-0.6%) industries declined.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of turnover for the Australian Retail series increased by 1.8% in the December quarter 2008. This follows revised increases of 0.9% in the September quarter and 0.3% in the June quarter 2008.

VOLUME MEASURES

• The trend estimate of turnover for the Australian Retail series increased by 0.3% in the December quarter 2008 in volume terms.
• The 1.8% increase in the December quarter 2008 seasonally adjusted estimate in current price terms resulted from a 0.8% increase in volumes and a 1.0% increase in prices.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
No forthcoming issue

FINAL ISSUE

In July 2008, the monthly retail trade sample size was reduced. However, following an announcement by the Australian Statistician on Wednesday 5 November 2008, the full monthly Retail Trade sample has been reinstated. Data from the November 2008 month onwards is being collected from the full monthly sample and the results included in Retail Trade, Australia (cat. no. 8501.0). With the reinstatement of the full monthly sample, this is the final issue of this quarterly publication. Quarterly chain volume measures will be included in the March, June, September and December issues of Retail Trade, Australia. For further details refer to the Information paper: Changes to the Dissemination of Retail Trade Statistics, January 2009 (cat. no. 8501.0.55.005).


TIME SERIES DATA

Data available free from the Downloads tab of this issue on the ABS website include longer time series of tables in this publication and the following additional quarterly series:

• Retail Turnover, Current Prices, State by Industry subgroup, Original
• Retail Turnover, Current Prices, State by Industry subgroup, Seasonally adjusted
• Retail Turnover, Current Prices, State by Industry subgroup, Trend
• Retail Turnover, Current Prices, Completely enumerated (large) and Sample (small), by Industry Group, Original
• Retail Turnover, Current Prices, Completely enumerated (large) and Sample (small), by State, Original.

REVISIONS

As advised in the September quarter 2008 issue of this publication, completely enumerated and sample sector estimates have been revised to remove a break-in-series between the June and September 2008 quarters. The break-in-series resulted from changes to scope and methodology introduced to the monthly Retail Business Survey in July 2008. Estimates at the total level (including industry by state) were adjusted for these changes. The completely enumerated and sample sectors estimates have now also been revised to account for these changes.

A minor change to a deflator for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry retailing resulted in a $37m revision to September quarter 2008 chain volume measures in original terms. There were no other revisions to the original series. Seasonally adjusted and trend series have been revised due to this revision and incorporation of data for the latest quarter.


RELATIONSHIP TO MONTHLY RETAIL TURNOVER

State and industry monthly retail turnover current price estimates are available from Retail Trade, Australia (cat. no. 8501.0). In original terms, the monthly series in Retail Trade, Australia sum to the quarterly series released in this issue. However, the monthly and quarterly series are seasonally adjusted independently, therefore the resulting seasonally adjusted and trend estimates may differ.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Neil Hamilton on Canberra (02) 6252 5990.