Monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales.
The December 2020 seasonally adjusted estimate:
| Dec-2020 ($m) | Nov-2020 to Dec-2020 (% change) | Dec-2019 to Dec-2020 (% change) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend | na | na | na |
| Seasonally Adjusted | 30368.8 | -4.1 | 9.6 |
na not available
| December Qtr 2020 ($m) | September Qtr 2020 to December Qtr 2020 (% change) | December Qtr 2019 to December Qtr 2020 (% change) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend | na | na | na |
| Seasonally Adjusted | 86933.2 | 2.5 | 6.4 |
To understand more about any changes in this issue, suspension of trend estimates, and COVID-19 in December, please read the survey impacts and changes.
Food retailing fell 1.7% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Household goods retailing fell 8.3% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing fell 9.4% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Department stores fell 12.5% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Other retailing fell 4.4% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 3.2% in December, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
There are no revisions to the original estimates.
This issue includes updated online retail turnover estimates for the December 2020 reference month.
This month also includes updated per capita data, included in the Data Downloads section of this publication.
The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in retail activity. In the short term, this measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in retail spending that will occur during the Coronavirus pandemic. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for irregular events, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying retail activity.
The retail trend series was therefore suspended from February 2020, and now published only to June 2019. A review of seasonal adjustment and trend will be completed following the release of the January 2021 publication. The trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend in retail.
The World Health Organisation identified COVID-19 as an international health emergency on 30 January.
In March, nationwide regulations were introduced to encourage social distancing which impacted the ability of businesses to trade as normal. Movement across state borders were also restricted.
In July 2020, Victoria saw increased regulations, especially in Melbourne, that remained in place for much of August through to the end of October.
South Australia saw restrictions introduced and removed within November. Increased restrictions were introduced within Greater Sydney from 20 December, including restrictions on the number of guests per household. Queensland saw restrictions introduced in Brisbane from 8 January 2021.
This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.
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