Retail sales surge in June
Australian retail turnover rose 1.2 per cent in June 2025, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This follows a rise of 0.5 per cent in May after a flat April 2025.
As previously announced, today’s release is the final publication of Retail Trade, Australia.
Australian Statistician Dr David Gruen AO said: ‘Today's final publication comes 74 years after Sir Roland Wilson, Chief Statistician at the time, released the results of the first Retail Trade survey in 1951. Sir Roland noted that total Australian retail sales in the September quarter 1950 amounted to £383.2 million – around $20.5 billion in today’s dollars.
‘The ABS would like to thank the many businesses that have contributed over the 74 years of the Retail Business Survey.
‘After today’s publication, monthly statistics on household spending will be available in the ABS’ Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI), providing a more comprehensive view of consumption, across both goods and 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.
Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: ‘The strong June month rise in retail turnover was driven by discounts linked to sales and new product releases.
‘After steady growth throughout the year, mid-year sales events increased spending on discretionary items like furniture, electrical goods and clothing items.’
Non-food related spending drove most of the rise in retail turnover. There were increases in all industries, led by household goods retailing (+2.3 per cent) and other retailing (+1.9 per cent).
‘Consumers are targeting sales events with a focus on value for big ticket items like household furniture, bedding, electronic devices and TVs,’ Mr Ewing said.
‘Turnover for electrical and gaming retailers was lifted further by the much-anticipated launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, which delivered record sales.’
There were also rises in department stores (+1.9 per cent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (+1.5 per cent), boosted by end-of-financial year sales and sales of winter clothing.
Food-related spending rose after a fall last month. While food retailing (+0.9 per cent) bounced back, spending in cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services fell 0.4 per cent.
Retail turnover rose in all states and territories, with the Eastern-mainland states seeing the largest rises.
Retail volumes rise in June quarter
Today’s release also includes quarterly retail sales volumes, which rose 0.3 per cent (seasonally adjusted) in June quarter 2025.
This comes after three straight quarters of volumes growth in March quarter 2025 (+0.1 per cent), December quarter 2024 (+0.8 per cent) and September quarter 2024 (+0.3 per cent).
‘Retail sales volumes rose modestly this quarter driven by a strong June month, with turnover boosted mostly by end-of-financial year sales,’ Mr Ewing said.
Consumers increased their discretionary spending in household goods retailing (+1.8 per cent) and other retailing (+1.2 per cent) by seeking out and taking advantage of discounts.
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.
Retail volumes on a per capita basis fell 0.1 per cent, following a fall of 0.4 per cent last quarter.
‘The per capita fall shows that despite the rise in volumes, consumer spending remains restrained, outstripped by population growth,’ Mr Ewing said.
Retail prices rose 0.6 per cent this quarter, easing slightly from 0.7 per cent in the March quarter 2025, based on data from the latest Consumer Price Index.
More detailed industry and state analysis and further information on the statistical methodology is available in Retail Trade, Australia.
To mark the end of the Retail Trade Publication, the ABS has put together an article commemorating over 75 years of retail trade statistics which covers the origins and some interesting retail insights throughout the years.
The ABS would like to thank all the retail businesses who have contributed over the years for their continued support in responding to the Retail Business Survey. The ABS appreciates and values your participation and commitment in enabling the ABS to deliver high-quality retail statistics to the Australian public.
Thank you and farewell.
Media notes
- For more information on the cessation of the Retail Trade publication and the Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI), please visit the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage
- Volume estimates measure changes in value after the direct effects of price changes have been removed. See chain volume measures for more details.
- Revisions to seasonally adjusted estimates are due to concurrent methodology, which reflects improvements in the data as changes in the seasonal pattern become clearer and distinct from irregular events. For further information, please refer to the article explaining the effect of changes in the seasonality of retail turnover and the seasonality in retail turnover section of survey impacts and changes.
- Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing seasonal effects to allow comparison of data for adjacent months. See methodology for more details on trend estimates.
- The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in retail activity. It is recommended that trend estimates be used alongside the seasonally adjusted headline measure to analyse and understand underlying activity in retail spending over the longer term. See methodology for more details on trend estimates.
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