Retail

Australia's retail sales up by 0.4% MoM, 5.4% YoY in Mar 2023

04 May '23

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock/Sheviakova Kateryna

Insights

Retail businesses in Australia grew by 0.4 per cent MoM and 5.4 per cent YoY in March 2023.
However, clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing fell 1.0 per cent, while department stores fell 0.2 per cent and other retailing was relatively unchanged.
Queensland was the only state or territory in the country to record a rise over 1.0 per cent.

Retail businesses in Australia grew by 0.4 per cent month-on-month (MoM), following a 0.2 per cent rise in February 2023, and by 5.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in March 2023. Meanwhile clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing fell 1.0 per cent (around -$31.0 million) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms, as per the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Retailing in department stores in Australia fell 0.2 per cent at -$3.7 million in March 2023, in seasonally adjusted terms. Moreover, other retailing was relatively unchanged at -$0.9 million in March, in seasonally adjusted terms, ABS said in a press release.

Retail turnover rose modestly across the states and territories, with most rises below 1.0 per cent. Queensland at 1.2 per cent was the only state or territory to record a rise over 1.0 per cent, and this was a bounce back from a 0.4 per cent fall in February.

Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics, said: “While retail sales recorded a third straight rise in March, a pull-back in spending on discretionary goods has seen monthly turnover remain at a similar level to six months ago.

“Spending on non-food retailing has slowed in response to interest rate rises and increased cost of living pressures. This follows increased spending during and immediately following much of the COVID-19 pandemic period.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)

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