Australian retail turnover rose 0.1 per cent in January 2019, seasonally adjusted, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures.
This follows a drop in December of 0.4 and the figures also showed the seasonally adjusted estimate for liquor retailing increase by 0.9 per cent.
ABS Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, Ben Faulkner said: “There were mixed results across the industries with rises in food retailing (0.3 per cent), other retailing (0.7 per cent) and cafes, restaurant and takeaway services (0.3 per cent), which were offset by falls in department stores (-2.1 per cent), and clothing, footwear and personal accessories retailing (-0.3 per cent). Household goods retailing (0.0 per cent) was relatively unchanged.”
The trend estimate for Australian retail turnover rose 0.1 per cent in January 2019, following a 0.1 per cent rise in December 2018. Compared to January 2018, the trend estimate rose 2.8 per cent.
Liquor retailing forms part of the overall food retailing category, which rose by 0.3 per cent in January.
The seasonally adjusted estimate rose 0.3 per cent. By industry subgroup, the trend estimate rose for supermarket and grocery stores (0.3 per cent), was relatively unchanged for liquor retailing (0.0 per cent), and fell for other specialised food retailing (-0.1 per cent). The seasonally adjusted estimate rose for supermarket and grocery stores (0.3 per cent), and liquor retailing (0.9 per cent), and fell for other specialised food retailing (-0.6 per cent).
In seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in New South Wales (0.7 per cent), Victoria (0.1 per cent), Tasmania (0.4 per cent), and South Australia (0.1 per cent). There were falls in Queensland (-0.5 per cent), Western Australia (-0.3 per cent), the Northern Territory (-1.2 per cent), and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.4 per cent).
The ABS said that online retail turnover contributed 5.6 per cent to total retail turnover in original terms in January 2019, which is unchanged from December 2018. In January 2018, online retail turnover contributed 4.7 per cent to total retail.