Australian retail turnover experienced a downturn of 0.4 per cent in March 2024, seasonally adjusted, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today. This decline contrasts with the retail growth observed earlier in the year, with a 0.2 per cent increase in February 2024 and a 1.0 per cent rise in January 2024.

Despite the monthly decrease, there was a year-on-year rise of 0.8 per cent when compared to March 2023, indicating some sustained growth in the sector over the past year, as per ABS.

Significant declines were noted particularly in specific retail sectors. Clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing faced the steepest drop, falling by 4.3 per cent. Department stores also saw a notable decrease of 1.6 per cent. These declines largely offset the gains these sectors had achieved in the previous month.

Additionally, the 'other retailing' category experienced a slight fall of 0.3 per cent, equating to a reduction of $15.6 million in seasonally adjusted terms for March.

“Consumers pulled back on retail spending in March as cost-of-living pressures remained high. Underlying retail turnover has been flat for the past six months and was up only 0.8 per cent compared to March 2023. Outside of the pandemic period and introduction of the GST, this is the weakest growth on record when comparing turnover to the same time in the previous year,” said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)

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