Australian Retail Sales hold steady at 0.4%, just beating forecasts

June’s seasonally-adjusted Retail Sales for Australia came in at 0.4%, holding steady with the previous month’s reading and ticking just above the broader market’s expectations of a slowdown to 0.3%.  

June key points (via ABS)

“Food retailing (0.4 per cent) led the rises,” said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys. “Clothing, footwear and personal accessories rose 1.7 per cent, following a 2.3 per cent rise in May.”  

There were also rises for cafes, restaurants and takeaways (0.9 per cent) and household goods (0.4 per cent). Other retailing (0.0 per cent) was relatively unchanged, whilst department stores (-1.2 per cent) fell in June 2018.  

For the June quarter 2018, there was a 1.2 per cent rise in seasonally adjusted volume terms. This follows a rise of 0.2 per cent in the March quarter 2018. The quarterly rise in volumes was led by food (1.6 per cent), household goods (1.4 per cent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessories (2.0 per cent). By state, New South Wales (1.7 per cent) and Victoria (1.7 per cent) led the rises.  

Online retail turnover contributed 5.7 per cent of total retail turnover in original terms in June 2018, a rise from 5.6 per cent in May 2018. In June 2017 online retail turnover contributed 4.1 per cent to total retail.