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Retail Trade, Australia

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Monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales.

Reference period
December 2021
Released
1/02/2022

Key statistics

The December 2021 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Fell 4.4% month-on-month.
  • Rose 4.8% compared with December 2020.
  • In volume terms, the seasonally adjusted estimate rose 8.2% in the December quarter 2021.

An additional information release on 7 February 2022 has seen the inclusion of more detailed results for the December 2021 reference period. Additional timeseries spreadsheets have been published, including; state by industry results, state by industry sub-group results, December quarter 2021 turnover volumes, and online sales.

To understand more about changes in this issue, suspension of trend estimates, and COVID-19 in December 2021, please read the survey impacts and changes.

Turnover at current prices
Dec-2021 ($m)Nov-2021 to Dec-2021 (% change)Dec-2020 to Dec-2021 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally adjusted31,926.3-4.44.8

na not available

Turnover in volume terms
December Qtr 2021 ($m)September Qtr 2021 to December Qtr 2021 (% change)December Qtr 2020 to December Qtr 2021 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally adjusted92,327.58.23.6

na not available

Total retail turnover

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing rose 2.2% ($283.8m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing fell 9.2% (-$589.4m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing fell 17.3% (-$531.2m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Department stores

Department stores fell 21.3% (-$408.2m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Other retailing

Other retailing fell 4.0% (-$212.1m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services fell 0.7% (-$28.2m) in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Online Retailing

Total online retailing sales were $3,607.3m in December 2021, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales fell 4.9% (-$186.7m) in December, the third straight monthly fall following the series recording its highest level on record, and just prior to lockdowns ending in October. In seasonally adjusted terms, total online retailing is up 20.5% ($614.6m) through the year.

In December 2021, Food online sales were $1,062.2m, and Non-Food online sales were $2545.1m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Non-Food sales drove the fall in December's total online sales, falling 9.6% (-$270.0m) as discretionary online spending continued to unwind from record levels seen during lockdowns. Food sales offset the fall, rising 8.5% ($83.3m) amid the emergence of a new COVID variant.

In original terms, the proportion of online sales for Food retailing was 5.4% in December 2021, down from 5.9% in November 2021. The portion of Food sales made online continues to remain high, particular compared to pre-pandemic months. The proportion of online sales for Non-Food retailing was 15.4% in December 2021, down from 18.7% last month. Like Food, the portion of Non-Food sales made online remains elevated despite the fall.

In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing was 10.5% in December 2021, down from 12.5% last month.

Additional notes regarding the online sales series can be found in the Methodology.

Data downloads

Tables 5 through to 23 have been made available on 7 February 2022. This includes December quarterly retail turnover contained in Tables 5 through to 10. Tables 1 through to 4 remain unchanged from their release on 1 February 2022.

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

The data available in Data Explorer is similar to ABS.Stat but with a new interface and added functionality.
For more information about Data Explorer and to see what's changed, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

Retail Trade, Key Statistics - Monthly retail trade estimates for Australian businesses classified by industry group, or by state and territory.

Retail Trade  - Monthly and quarterly retail trade turnover estimates for Australian businesses classified by industry group, sub group, and by state and territory.

Survey impacts and changes

The revised release schedule for Retail Trade, Australia

Changes in this issue

Suspension of trend series

Coronavirus (COVID-19) in December

Differences between Retail Trade and Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

Post release changes

7/01/2022 - As advertised in the main release of this publication on 1 February 2022, the time series spreadsheets for tables 5 through to 23 are now available under the Data Downloads section. This includes:

  • December monthly results for State by Industry Subgroup, Completely Enumerated (large) and Sample (small) businesses, and Online Retail Turnover.
  • December quarter 2021 results, available in tables 5 through to 10.

In addition, December quarter results and an online retailing section has been added to this publication, which shows the most up-to-date online retail sales.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Inquiries

For inquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

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