Total retail sales across Australia hit an all-time record of $160 billion for the December 2025 quarter, up from $154 billion recorded in the December 2024 quarter.
This is according to newly released original data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which includes seasonal fluctuations such as Black Friday and Boxing Day sales.
When seasonally adjusted, retail sales lifted by 3.7 per cent between December 2024 and 2025 quarters, still hitting an all-time record.
In the same timeframe, total gross operating profits in retail hit $6.37 billion in the December 2025 quarter. This is up by $359 million compared to the December 2024 quarter, but down from the December 2023 quarter, when it hit $6.67 billion.
Looking back at recent December quarters – retail’s most important time on the calendar – operating profits in retail peaked at $9.1 billion in the December 2020 quarter.
In seasonally adjusted terms, company gross operating profits across the retail industry were flat overall quarter-on-quarter, but up by 5.7 per cent compared to the December 2024 quarter.
Across all industries, total operating profits quarter-on-quarter rose 5.8 per cent, driven up by ‘other services’ – think hairdressers, funeral directors and mechanics – with a total profit lift of 10.4 per cent, as well as mining (up 8.1 per cent) and transport, postal and warehousing (up 8.9 per cent).
At the other end of the scale, arts and recreation services reported a 3.5 per cent slip in profit, with administrative and support services remaining flat like retail.
Overall wages and salaries rose 0.9 per cent, with 11 industries bumping this up, led by health care and social assistance (up 1.9 per cent), construction (up 1.4 per cent) and wholesale trade (up 1.6 per cent).
Six industries reported falls in wages and salaries, led by information media and telecommunications (down 1.5 per cent).
As for sales across industries, 11 of them rose quarter-on-quarter, led by mining (up 1.2 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (up 2.0 per cent). Three industries fell, led by financial and insurance services (down 1.8 per cent), while one – ‘other services’ – remained unchanged.
Retail trade’s flat operating profits, alongside modest sales growth, came as inventories across the industry fell by 0.4 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms quarter-on-quarter and are down 1.1 per cent in original terms year-on-year.
Total inventory in terms of total value across retail slipped to $48.8 billion. This is down from a recent record peak of just over $50 billion recorded in the September 2024 quarter, 18 months ago.