Retailers applaud August sales
August trade figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) represent a quiet boost in consumer confidence with August seeing a 3.77% total year on year increase.
Russell Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), said August’s trade figures were driven by the launch of new season products and the confidence seen in the change in Prime Minister.
“We can see there was a slight uptick in consumer confidence around August with cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services showing the strongest year on year growth at 5%,” Mr Zimmerman said.
“Clothing, footwear and personal accessories also saw a strong 4% year on year growth this August as some confidence returned to consumers after receiving their tax refunds.”
Department stores saw solid growth in August with this retail category reaching 2% year on year growth – the biggest increase since May.
Tasmania (6.20%) led the country in August trade, with Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%) and the Australian Capital Territory (4.20%) not far behind. Queensland (2.39%) remained steady in August, whereas the Northern Territory (0.04%) received minimal growth and Western Australia (-0.99%) unfortunately remained in negative territory for the fourth month in a row.
Monthly Retail Growth (July 2018 – August 2018 seasonally adjusted)
Categories: Department stores (0.87%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.79%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.70%), Other retailing (0.37%), Household goods retailing (0.20%) and Food retailing (-0.02%).
States: South Australia (0.78%), Tasmania (0.61%), New South Wales (0.52%), Victoria (0.23%), Australian Capital Territory (0.18%), Queensland (0.07%), Western Australia (-0.03%), and Northern Territory (-1.32%).
Total sales (0.29%).
Year-on-Year Retail Growth (August 2017 – August 2018 seasonally adjusted)
Categories: Cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services (5.01%), Food retailing (4.34%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (4.05%), Other retailing (3.43%), Household goods retailing (2.16%) and Department stores (2.04%).
States: Tasmania (6.20%), Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%), Australian Capital Territory (4.20%), Queensland (2.39%), Northern Territory (0.04%) and Western Australia (-0.99%),
Total sales (3.77%).
