Retail Trade, Australia

Latest release

Monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales.

Reference period
September 2024
Released
31/10/2024
  • Next Release 2/12/2024
    Retail Trade, Australia, October 2024
  • Next Release 9/01/2025
    Retail Trade, Australia, November 2024
  • Next Release 3/02/2025
    Retail Trade, Australia, December 2024
  • View all releases

Key statistics

The September 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 0.1% month-on-month.
  • Rose 2.3% compared with September 2023.
  • In volume terms, the seasonally adjusted estimate rose 0.5% in the September quarter 2024.
Turnover at current prices
Sep-2024 ($m)Aug-2024 to Sep-2024 (% change)Sep-2023 to Sep-2024 (% change)
Trend36,481.10.32.6
Seasonally adjusted36,458.40.12.3
Turnover in volume terms
September Qtr 2024 ($m)June Qtr 2024 to September Qtr 2024 (% change)September Qtr 2023 to September Qtr 2024 (% change)
Trend104,327.3-0.1-0.2
Seasonally adjusted104,589.30.50.2

Total retail turnover

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing fell 0.1% (-$18.3m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • fell 3.8% (-$57.5m) for Liquor retailing.
  • rose 0.6% ($6.0m) for Other specialised food retailing.
  • rose 0.3% ($33.1m) for Supermarket and grocery stores.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 0.5% ($29.5m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 1.0% ($22.0m) for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing.
  • rose 0.7% ($13.8m) for Electrical and electronic goods retailing.
  • fell 0.4% (-$6.3m) for Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing fell 0.1% (-$3.5m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • fell 0.3% (-$6.6m) for Clothing retailing.
  • rose 0.3% ($3.1m) for Footwear and other personal accessory retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Department stores

Department stores fell 0.5% (-$8.9m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Other retailing

Other retailing was relatively unchanged 0.0% (-$2.1m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • fell 0.3% (-$7.9m) for Other retailing n.e.c..
  • fell 1.2% (-$7.9m) for Other recreational goods retailing.
  • fell 0.8% (-$1.4m) for Newspaper and book retailing.
  • rose 0.6% ($15.1m) for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 0.4% ($22.7m) in September, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • rose 0.6% ($13.0m) for Takeaway food services.
  • rose 0.3% ($9.7m) for Cafes, restaurants and catering services.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Online retailing

Total online retailing sales were $4,061.4m in September 2024, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales fell 1.3% (-$52.9m), following a fall of 1.6% (-$65.8m) in August 2024. Seasonally adjusted through-the-year sales are up 8.9% ($333.1m). 

Original online sales fell 1.7% (-$71.3m) in September 2024 compared to a flat result (-$0.4m) at the same time last year.

In September 2024, food online sales were $1,213.1m and non-food online sales were $2,848.2m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Food sales fell 0.6% (-$7.0m) whilst non-food fell 1.6% (-$46.0m), seasonally adjusted.

In original terms, the proportion of online food retailing sales to total food retailing fell from 6.4% to 6.3%. The proportion for online non-food retailing sales to total non-food retailing remain unchanged at 17.8%. 

In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing remained unchanged at 11.4%. The proportion of online sales to total retailing was 10.5% at the same time last year.

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

Quarterly retail turnover

Per capita retail volumes

Retail volumes on a per capita basis fell for the 9th straight quarter, down 0.1% (-$4.3) with retail spending on a per person basis down 1.9% (-$74.0) compared to this time last year.

Retail volumes per capita are down to its lowest level since the September quarter 2021 having peaked in the June quarter 2022. Retail volumes per capita are down 6.3% (-$257.3) since the June quarter 2022 peak.

Despite the nine consecutive quarterly falls, retail volumes per capita are up 2.6% ($96.8) compared to the December quarter 2019, the last quarter prior to the pandemic-period.

Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.

Data downloads

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  - 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

Change to the Retail Trade, Australia release schedule

Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication

Changes in this issue

Seasonality in retail turnover

Trend series

Differences between Retail Trade and other Economic Indicators

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Enquiries

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Methodology

Scope

This publication presents estimates of the value of turnover of retail trade for Australian businesses. This includes all employing retail trade businesses who predominantly sell to households.

Geography

Data is available for:

  • Australia Total
  • States and territories.

Source

Retail Business Survey

Collection method

The survey includes about 700 large businesses and 2,700 smaller businesses selected by random sample.

The survey is conducted monthly primarily by telephone interview. A small number of questionnaires are mailed.

Concepts, sources and methods

Turnover includes:

  • retail sales
  • online sales
  • wholesale sales
  • takings from repairs, meals & hiring of goods
  • commissions from agency activity

Businesses are classified in terms of the retail industry group and subgroup it mainly operates in.

History of changes

GST was included in turnover from 2000.

View full methodology
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