Australian Bureau Of Statistics

Retail Turnover Falls 0.1 % In March

Victor P Taffa

Australian retail turnover fell 0.1 % in March 2017, seasonally adjusted, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures. This follows a fall of 0.2 % in February 2017.

In seasonally adjusted terms, there were falls in

• Food retailing (-0.5 %),
• Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-0.5 %),
• Department stores (-0.6 %),
• Household goods retailing (-0.1 %).

These falls were offset by rises in

• Other retailing (1.1 %),
• Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.4 %).

In seasonally adjusted terms, there were falls in

• Queensland (-1.3 %),
• Northern Territory (-1.8 %),
• South Australia (-0.1 %),
• Tasmania (-0.2 %).

There were rises in

• Victoria (0.4 %),
• New South Wales (0.1 %),
• Australian Capital Territory (0.3 %),
• Western Australia (0.1 %).

Trend estimate for Australian retail turnover was relatively unchanged (0.0 %) in March 2017 following a 0.1 % rise in February 2017. Compared to March 2016, the trend estimate rose 2.5 %.

Online retail turnover contributed 3.7 % to total retail turnover in original terms.

In seasonally adjusted volume terms, turnover rose 0.1 % in the March quarter 2017, following a rise of 0.7 % in the December quarter 2016. The main contributors to this rise were

• Food retailing (0.6 %),
• Household goods retailing (0.4 %),
• Other retailing (0.4 %).