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
October 2020
Released
4/12/2020

Key statistics

The October 2020 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 1.4% month-on-month. 
  • Updates the rise of 1.6% published in the Preliminary Retail Trade release.
  • Rose 7.1% compared to October 2019.
Turnover at current prices
Oct-2020 ($m)Sep-2020 to Oct-2020 (% change)Oct-2019 to Oct-2020 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally Adjusted29,552.31.47.1

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Total retail turnover

Changes in this issue

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

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing fell 0.1% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.    

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:    

  • fell 0.7% for Supermarket and grocery stores.
  • rose 3.1% for Liquor retailing.        
  • rose 2.3% for Other specialised food retailing.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing fell 1.0% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.    

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:        

  • fell 1.8% for Hardware, building and garden supplies retailing.        
  • fell 1.7% for Electrical and electronic goods retailing.        
  • rose 1.0% for Furniture, floor coverings, houseware and textile goods retailing.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 6.8% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.        

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:        

  • rose 10.8% for Clothing retailing.        
  • fell 1.0% for Footwear and other personal accessory retailing.

Department stores

Department stores rose 4.5% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Other retailing

Other retailing rose 2.0% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.        

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:        

  • rose 2.8% for Pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry goods retailing.        
  • rose 2.2% for Other retailing n.e.c..        
  • rose 3.3% for Newspaper and book retailing.        
  • fell 1.3% for Other recreational goods retailing.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 5.4% in October, in seasonally adjusted terms.

By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:    

  • rose 6.8% for Cafes, restaurants and catering services.        
  • rose 4.0% for Takeaway food services.    

Original estimates for chains and larger retailers, and smaller retailers

  • The original estimate for chains and other larger retailers rose 6.4% in October 2020.
  • The original estimate for smaller retailers rose 8.5% in October 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 October 2020 reference month. This issue also includes Survey of Consumer Sales estimates for the September quarter. Data can be found in the Data Downloads section, and the data is explained in the methodology section of this publication. 

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 October

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. Movement across state borders have been restricted.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Inquiries

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