A recent study has revealed retail may be well on its way to recovery, with economy-wide spending on the rise.
The latest figures, from the Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI), indicate that spending increased by 1.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in January, despite falling by 1.3 per cent in December.
The BSI aims to provide a measure of economy-wide spending by tracking the value of credit and debit card transactions processed through the bank's point-of-sale terminals.
According to the calculations for last month, spending grew by 0.8 per cent in trend terms in January - the fifth consecutive monthly increase in spending and the strongest increase in 10 months. Annual growth stands at 6.4 per cent.
In addition, by category for the month, wholesale distributors and manufacturers were up (by 17.3 per cent), while retail stores also saw a spending increase of 7.5 per cent.
Overall, only three of the industry sectors fell in trend terms in January, down from six sectors in December and eight sectors in November.
By state, the trend BSI has now risen for 20 straight months in the Northern Territory, for 19 straight months in Queensland, for 18 straight months in South Australia, for 16 straight months in ACT and for nine straight months in Tasmania.
Strongest growth was posted in ACT (up 12.1 per cent), followed by South Australia (up 10.0 per cent), followed by Queensland (up 7.7 per cent), Tasmania (up 6.1 per cent) and Western Australia (up 5.7 per cent).
None of the states and territories recorded weaker sales in trend terms in January.
However, sales rose most in the ACT (up 1.7 per cent), followed by Western Australia (up 0.9 per cent), NSW, Tasmania and Victoria (each up 0.8 per cent), Queensland (up 0.4 per cent), Northern Territory (up 0.3 per cent) and South Australia (up 0.2 per cent).
The BSI has been devised to provide a monthly assessment of spending trends in the Australian economy, covering 20 industry sectors and all Australian states and territories.
Figures, taken from credit and debit card transactions, are tracked in seasonally adjusted and trend terms to avoid being affected by seasonal and irregular factors.