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
May 2024
Released
3/07/2024

Key statistics

The May 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 0.6% month-on-month.
  • Rose 1.7% compared with May 2023.

Change to Retail Trade, Australia release schedule

Beginning with the May 2024 reference cycle, Retail Trade, Australia is now a single release with the full suite of statistics generally made available 22 working days following the end of the reference period. 

To understand more about the release schedule, please read the survey impacts and changes.

Turnover at current prices
May-2024 ($m)Apr-2024 to May-2024 (% change)May-2023 to May-2024 (% change)
Trend35,800.10.01.5
Seasonally adjusted35,940.60.61.7

Total retail turnover

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing rose 0.7% ($102.3m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 6.1% ($87.4m) for Liquor retailing.
  • rose 0.1% ($12.1m) for Supermarket and grocery stores.
  • rose 0.3% ($2.8m) for Other specialised food retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 1.1% ($62.2m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 3.1% ($46.8m) for Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing.
  • rose 0.8% ($15.5m) for Electrical and electronic goods retailing.
  • was relatively unchanged (-$0.1m) for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 1.6% ($48.1m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 1.6% ($31.8m) for Clothing retailing.
  • rose 1.7% ($16.3m) for Footwear and other personal accessory retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Department stores

Department stores fell 0.9% (-$16.4m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Other retailing

Other retailing rose 0.2% ($8.9m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 1.4% ($31.0m) for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing.
  • rose 0.8% ($1.4m) for Newspaper and book retailing.
  • fell 0.5% (-$3.2m) for Other recreational goods retailing.
  • fell 0.8% (-$20.3m) for Other retailing n.e.c..

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services fell 0.1% (-$6.6m) in May, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • fell 0.3% (-$5.6m) for Takeaway food services.
  • was relatively unchanged (-$1.1m) for Cafes, restaurants and catering services.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Online retailing

Total online retailing sales were $4,155.7m in May 2024, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales fell 2.4 per cent (-$100.3m), following a rise of 6.8 per cent ($270.4m) in April 2024. Seasonally adjusted through-the-year sales are up 6.3 per cent ($245.8m). 

Original online sales in May 2024 rose 8.0 per cent ($301.2m). This is smaller than the rise in original online sales in May 2023 of 12.6 per cent. 

In May 2024, food online sales were $1,245.9m and non-food online sales were $2,909.8m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Food sales fell 2.8 per cent (-$35.8m) and non-food fell 2.2 per cent (-$64.5m), seasonally adjusted. 

In original terms, the proportion of online food retailing sales to total food retailing rose from 6.1 per cent to 6.3 per cent. The proportion for online non-food retailing sales to total non-food retailing rose from 17.2 per cent to 17.7 per cent.

In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing rose from 11.0 per cent to 11.4 per cent. Online sales made up 10.9 per cent of total retail sales in May 2023. 

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

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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

Change to the Retail Trade, Australia release schedule

Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication

Changes in this issue

Seasonality in retail turnover

Trend series

Differences between Retail Trade and other Economic Indicators

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Enquiries

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Methodology

Scope

This publication presents estimates of the value of turnover of retail trade for Australian businesses. This includes all employing retail trade businesses who predominantly sell to households.

Geography

Data is available for:

  • Australia Total
  • States and territories.

Source

Retail Business Survey

Collection method

The survey includes about 700 large businesses and 2,700 smaller businesses selected by random sample.

The survey is conducted monthly primarily by telephone interview. A small number of questionnaires are mailed.

Concepts, sources and methods

Turnover includes:

  • retail sales
  • online sales
  • wholesale sales
  • takings from repairs, meals & hiring of goods
  • commissions from agency activity

Businesses are classified in terms of the retail industry group and subgroup it mainly operates in.

History of changes

GST was included in turnover from 2000.

View full methodology
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