Clothing sector boosts Australian retail with 1.3% uptick in Aug 2023

Other categories followed suit, with other retailing witnessing a 0.7 per cent increase, and department stores seeing a 0.4 per cent uptick.

Australia’s overall retail turnover increased by 0.2 per cent month-on-month (MoM) in August 2023. Compared to the same month last year, retail turnover rose by 1.5 per cent.

The new data follows a 0.5 per cent increase in July 2023 and a 0.8 per cent decrease in June 2023, as per ABS.

"The modest rise in August shows consumers continued to restrain their retail spending. In trend terms, retail turnover rose 0.1 per cent, and was up only 1.3 per cent compared to August 2022—the smallest trend growth over 12 months in the history of the series. Considering how high inflation and strong population growth has added to retail turnover in the past year, the historically low trend growth highlights just how much consumers have pulled back in response to cost-of-living pressures,” said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DP)