Retail Trade, Australia

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

Reference period
November 2020
Released
11/01/2021

Key statistics

The November 2020 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 7.1% month-on-month. 
  • This updates the rise of 7.0% published in the Preliminary Retail Trade release.
  • Australian turnover rose 13.3% compared to November 2019.
Turnover at current prices
Nov-2020 ($m)Oct-2020 to Nov-2020 (% change)Nov-2019 to Nov-2020 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally Adjusted31,654.17.113.3

na not available

Total retail turnover

Changes in this issue

To understand more about any changes in this issue, suspension of trend estimates, and COVID-19 in November, please read the survey impacts and changes

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing fell 0.3% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.  

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:      

  • fell 4.1% for Liquor retailing.        
  • was relatively unchanged (0.0%) for Supermarket and grocery stores.        
  • rose 1.2% for Other specialised food retailing.    

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 12.7% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.    

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:        

  • rose 23.4% for Electrical and electronic goods retailing.        
  • rose 8.9% for Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing.
  • rose 4.4% for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing.    

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 26.7% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.        

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:     

  • rose 27.4% for Clothing retailing.        
  • rose 25.3% for Footwear and other personal accessory retailing.    

Department stores

Department stores rose 21.1% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.    

Other retailing

Other retailing rose 7.9% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:     

  • rose 10.6% for Other retailing n.e.c..        
  • rose 18.9% for Other recreational goods retailing.        
  • rose 1.9% for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing.        
  • rose 1.5% for Newspaper and book retailing.    

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 6.7% in November, in seasonally adjusted terms.    

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:    

  • rose 12.3% for Cafes, restaurants and catering services.        
  • rose 0.7% for Takeaway food services

Original estimates for chains and larger retailers, and smaller retailers

  • The original estimate for chains and other larger retailers rose 10.2% in November 2020.
  • The original estimate for smaller retailers rose 6.6% in November 2020.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Survey impacts and changes

Changes in this issue

There are no revisions to the original estimates.

This issue includes updated online retail turnover estimates for the November 2020 reference month. 

Suspension of trend series

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. The trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend in retail.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) in November

The World Health Organisation (WHO) commenced daily situation reports of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on 21 January 2020 and identified it as an international health emergency on 30 January. From 1 February, the Australian Government placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia from mainland China and restrictions on inbound tourism have remained in place. In March, regulations to encourage social distancing saw further impacts on the ability of businesses to trade as normal. This included restrictions on dining-in at restaurants and restrictions on the number of people that could be in a shop at a particular time. Restrictions were eased gradually in May and June 2020. In July 2020, a spike in coronavirus cases in Victoria saw restrictions tightened, especially in Melbourne. Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, and Stage 3 restrictions across the rest of Victoria, were in place for much of August through to the end of October. South Australia saw restrictions introduced and removed within November.  Movement across state borders have been restricted.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Inquiries

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