8501.0 - Retail Trade, Australia, Dec 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/02/2009   
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Note 05/02/2009: Spreadsheets 9 and 10 were re-issued on 5 February 2009 to correctly annotate state by industry cells for the July to October 2008 reference months. Estimates in these cells are too volatile to be used for assessing month to month movements.

DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

Dec 08
Nov 08 to Dec 08
$m
% change

Turnover at current prices
Trend estimates
np
np
Seasonally adjusted estimates
19 162.8
3.8

np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Monthly turnover , Trend estimates(a) - % change
Graph: Monthly turnover_trend estimates_% change



DECEMBER KEY POINTS


SUSPENSION OF TREND ESTIMATES
  • The Federal Government Economic Security Strategy Package implemented in December 2008 has impacted on Australian retail turnover. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would be likely to provide a misleading view of the underlying trend in retail activity. Until data is available in future months, it is not possible to determine the trend in retail turnover through the period affected by the stimulus package. As a result, the retail trend series have been suspended as at November 2008. See the Suspension of trend estimates section for details.


AUSTRALIA
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate increased by 3.8% in December 2008. This follows increases of 0.4% in November and 1.0% in October 2008. It should be noted that the full retail sample was reinstated from November 2008.
  • December 2008 is the largest monthly seasonally adjusted percentage increase since August 2000 following the introduction of the GST.
  • In original terms, Australian turnover increased by 29.0% in December 2008 compared with November 2008. Chains and other large retailers (which are completely enumerated) increased by 34.0% while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers increased by 20.1%. Australian turnover increased by 5.7% in December 2008 compared with December 2007. Chains and other large retailers increased by 8.7% while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers increased by 0.3%.


INDUSTRIES
  • In seasonally adjusted terms, all industries had an increase in December 2008, with Food retailing (+1.4%), Department stores (+8.3%), Clothing and soft good retailing (+5.8%), Household good retailing (+9.9%), Other retailing (+2.6%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (+1.7%).


STATES
  • In seasonally adjusted terms, all states had an increase in December 2008, with New South Wales (+4.9%), Victoria (+3.9%), Queensland (+3.2%), South Australia (+2.4%), Western Australia (+2.8%), Tasmania (+4.2%), Northern Territory (+4.8%) and Australian Capital Territory (+3.0%).


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
January 2009 3 March 2009
February 2009 1 April 2009
March 2009 6 May 2009
April 2009 1 June 2009
May 2009 1 July 2009
June 2009 3 August 2009



SUSPENSION OF TREND ESTIMATES

Details of the suspension of trend estimates due to the impact of the Federal Government's economic stimulus package are presented in the Suspension of trend estimates section.


CHANGES IN THIS AND FUTURE ISSUES

Details of changes in this and future issues resulting from the reinstatement of the full monthly retail survey sample from November 2008 are presented in the Changes in this and future issues section.


TIME SERIES DATA

Data available from the Downloads tab of this issue on the ABS website include longer time series of tables in this publication and the following additional series:
  • Retail turnover by state and 15 industry subgroups in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by six industry groups in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by state in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated sector, total level in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Neil Hamilton on Canberra (02) 6252 5990.