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
November 2023
Released
9/01/2024

Key statistics

The November 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 2.0% month-on-month.
  • Rose 2.2% compared with November 2022.

Seasonally adjusted retail turnover

The ABS has undertaken an annual review of the seasonally adjusted retail series. The review has changed a range of time series treatments to ensure the quality of the the seasonal adjustment process. For more information, please refer to the Annual seasonal review section below.

The review also reflects changes in spending patterns associated with the growth in popularity of Black Friday sales events. An article has been released explaining how these changes are affecting seasonality of retail turnover

All information for the November 2023 reference period has been released in one issue on 9 January 2024. All timeseries spreadsheets have been published, including; state by industry results, state by industry sub-group results, previously published quarterly turnover volumes, and online sales.

Subsequent issues will return to the dual release format.

Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication

A media statement on Thursday 23 November 2023 announced that the ABS will cease publication of Retail Trade, Australia due to enhancements to the Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI). The last release of the Retail Trade, Australia publication is expected to be in August 2025, referencing the June 2025 period. For more information on the upcoming changes, please see survey impacts and changes below or visit the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage.

Turnover at current prices
Nov-2023 ($m)Oct-2023 to Nov-2023 (% change)Nov-2022 to Nov-2023 (% change)
Trend36,181.50.52.8
Seasonally adjusted36,511.82.02.2

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 0.4% ($53.5m) in November, 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.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 7.5% ($438.2m) in November, 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.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 2.7% ($81.3m) in November, 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.

Department stores

Department stores rose 4.2% ($79.9m) in November, 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 1.1% ($57.8m) in November, 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.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 0.4% ($20.1m) in November, 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.

Online retailing

Total online retailing sales were $3,836.4m in November 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales rose 3.0 per cent ($113.3m), following a rise of 0.3 per cent ($9.5m) in October 2023. Seasonally adjusted through-the-year sales are up 0.3 per cent ($13.0m). 

Original online sales in November 2023 rose 26.9 per cent ($1,042.6m).  

In November 2023, food online sales were $1,179.9m and non-food online sales were $2,656.5m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Food sales rose 0.1 per cent ($0.8m) whilst non-food rose 4.4 per cent ($112.5m), seasonally adjusted. 

In original terms, the proportion of online food retailing sales to total food retailing rose from 6.1 per cent to 6.4 per cent. The proportion for online non-food retailing sales to total non-food retailing rose from 16.6 per cent to 19.4 per cent. 

In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing rose from 10.8 per cent in October 2023 to 12.7 per cent in November 2023, similar to the same time last year driven by Black Friday sales events. 

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

Data downloads

All tables have been made available on 9 January 2024. Subsequent issues will return to the dual release format.

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

Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication

Annual Seasonal Review

Changes in this issue

Trend series

Differences between Retail Trade and other Economic Indicators

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Enquiries

For enquiries 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.

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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