8501.0 - Retail Trade, Australia, Mar 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/05/2009   
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MARCH KEY FIGURES

Mar 09
Feb 09 to Mar 09
$m
% change
Turnover at current prices
Trend estimates
np
np
Seasonally adjusted estimates
19 295.7
2.2
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Mar Qtr 2009
Dec Qtr 2008 to Mar Qtr 2009
$m
% change
Turnover, in volume terms
Trend estimates
53 853.6
0.7
Seasonally adjusted estimates
53 959.1
1.0

Monthly Turnover, Current prices - Seasonally adjusted
Graph: Monthly turnover_current prices_seasonally adjusted_% change

Quarterly turnover, in volume terms - Trend estimate
Graph: Quarterly turnover_chain volume measures_Trend estimates_% change




MARCH KEY POINTS


SUSPENSION OF MONTHLY TREND ESTIMATES
  • The retail trade current price trend series have been suspended as at November 2008 as it is not possible to determine the trend in retail turnover through the period affected by the Federal Government's economic stimulus packages and other influences associated with global economic conditions. For further details refer to the December 2008 issue.


CURRENT PRICES
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate increased by 2.2% in March 2009. This follows a decrease of 2.0% in February 2009 and an increase of 0.5% in January 2009.
  • In seasonally adjusted terms, all industries had an increase in March 2009 - Food retailing (+0.4%), Department stores (+13.2%), Clothing and soft good retailing (+6.4%), Household good retailing (+1.3%), Other retailing (+1.5%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (+1.4%).
  • In seasonally adjusted terms, all states, except the Australian Capital Territory (-0.1%), had an increase in March 2009 - New South Wales (+1.2%), Victoria (+2.7%), Queensland (+3.2%), South Australia (+2.4%), Western Australia (+2.2%), Tasmania (+2.2%) and the Northern Territory (+4.2%).
  • In original terms, Australian turnover increased by 12.2% in March 2009 compared with February 2009. Chains and other large retailers (which are completely enumerated) increased by 13.9%, while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers increased by 9.5%. Australian turnover increased by 6.4% in March 2009 compared with March 2008. Chains and other large retailers increased by 7.9%, while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers rose by 3.9%.


VOLUME MEASURES
  • The trend estimate of turnover for the Australian Retail series increased by 0.7% in the March quarter 2009 in volume terms.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
April 2009 1 June 2009
May 2009 1 July 2009
June 2009 3 August 2009
July 2009 9 September 2009
August 2009 30 September 2009
September 2009 4 November 2009



CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

State by industry subgroup estimates had been supressed for the period July to October 2008. Modelled estimates for this period are now available. For further details see State by Industry Subgroup Estimates.

Quarterly Chain Volume estimates are shown in Table 5 through to Table 8 of this issue. These tables replace those presented in Retail Trade Quarterly Indicators (cat. no. 8502.0) which ceased with the December quarter 2008 issue.


REVISIONS

As a result of the inclusion of the modelled estimates, published current price estimates at the state and industry group levels for July to October 2008 have been revised. However, the Australian total for each month has not changed. Changes to the October month state and industry estimates have resulted in revisions to the December quarter 2008 chain volume measures.


MONTHLY TREND SERIES

The retail trade trend series have been suspended as at November 2008 as it is not possible to determine the trend in retail turnover through the period affected by the Federal Government's economic stimulus packages and other influences associated with global economic conditions. For further details refer to the December 2008 issue.


QUARTERLY TREND SERIES

The impact of the Federal Government's economic stimulus packages has been assessed as not statistically significant in the quarterly Chain Volume series (i.e. the impact on the quarterly estimate is relatively smaller than the impact on an individual month and the impact on the quarter is less distinguishable from other irregular influences over the period). Therefore, the quarterly trend series are being released.


TIME SERIES DATA

Data available from the Downloads tab of this issue on the ABS website include longer time series of tables in this publication and the following additional current price monthly series:
  • Retail turnover by state and 15 industry subgroups in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by six industry groups in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by state in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated sector, total level in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms.


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.