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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
October 2021
Released
26/11/2021

Key statistics

The October 2021 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 4.9% month-on-month.
  • Rose 5.2% compared with October 2020.

An additional release on 2 December 2021 has seen the inclusion of more detailed results for the October 2021 reference period. Additional timeseries spreadsheets have been published, including; state by industry results, state by industry sub-group results, quarterly turnover volumes, and online sales.

Please note, for the November 2021 reference period only, all information will be released in one issue on 11 January 2022. This was previously set for release on 5 January 2022, with the additional information release on 11 January 2022. Subsequent issues will return to the dual release format.

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

Turnover at current prices
Oct-2021 ($m)Sep-2021 to Oct-2021 (% change)Oct-2020 to Oct-2021 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally adjusted31,130.54.95.2

na not available

Total retail turnover

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing fell 0.5% (-$64.0m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 4.5% ($247.2m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 27.7% ($481.7m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Department stores

Department stores rose 22.4% ($277.8m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Other retailing

Other retailing rose 2.2% ($106.6m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food services rose 12.3% ($412.0m) in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Online retailing

Total online retailing sales were $4,086.4m in October 2021, in seasonally adjusted terms. The value of online sales fell 3.4% (-$143m) on last month, with lockdowns in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory ending during October.  This allowed consumers to shop more easily instore for parts of the month.

Online retailing turnover remains elevated despite this month’s fall, with sales up 49.6% ($1,355.2m) compared to May 2021 (prior to the Delta Outbreak), and 33.8% ($1,031.9m) above online sales in October 2020.

In October 2021, online Food sales were $1,047.9m, and online Non-Food sales were $3,038.4m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Online Non-Food sales drove the fall in October’s total online sales, falling 5.6% (-$181.3m). This was followed by Food sales which fell 5.3% (-$59.0m). 

In original terms, the proportion of online sales for Food retailing was 6.4% in October 2021, down from 7.2% in September 2021. The portion of Food sales made online in October remains higher than any month prior to the Delta Outbreak. The proportion of online sales for Non-Food retailing was 21.2%, down from last month’s record of 25.5%. Like Food, the portion of Non-Food sales made online in October remains higher than any month prior to the Delta Outbreak.

In original terms, the proportion of online sales for total retailing was 13.2% in September 2021, following last month’s record of 15.3%.

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

Data downloads

Tables 5 through 23 have been made available on 2 December 2021. Tables 1 to 4 remain unchanged from their release on 26 November 2021.

Please note, we will be progressively transitioning to releasing Excel files in .XLSX format from 3 December 2021.

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 October

Differences between Retail Trade and Monthly Business Turnover Indicator

Post release changes

02/12/2021 - As advertised in the main release of this publication on 26 November 2021, the time series spreadsheets for tables 5 through to 23 are now available under the Data Downloads section. This includes:

  • October monthly results for State by Industry Subgroup, Completely Enumerated (large) and Sample (small) businesses, and Online Retail Turnover.
  • September quarter 2021 results, available in tables 5 through to 10. These results have been published previously.
  • September quarter 2021 results for consumer sales of energy retailing and communications services.

In addition, 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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