Australian retail turnover rose by $700 million in November 2023, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data revealed.
This is a lift of 2% on the prior month to $36.51 billion, and follows a fall of 0.4% in October 2023 and a rise of 1% in September 2023.
"Black Friday sales were again a big hit this year, with retailers starting promotional periods earlier and running them for longer, compared to previous years,” ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said.
“The strong rise suggests that consumers held back on discretionary spending in October to take advantage of discounts in November. Shoppers may have also brought forward some Christmas spending that would usually happen in December.”
This is noted in the below graph, where November spending in the past three years peaked before then dropping in December. In 2022, November spend hit $35.7 billion, before dropping to $34.4 billion in December.
“The popularity of Black Friday events is affecting spending patterns in the lead up to Christmas,” Ewing said. “This causes more volatile monthly movements in seasonally adjusted data.
“We’ve released an article this month that explains how these changes are affecting the seasonality of retail turnover.”
There were rises in all retail industries in November, but it was spending on discretionary goods boosted by Black Friday sales that drove most of the increase.
Household goods retailing rose 7.5%, followed by department stores (4.2%); clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (2.7%); and other retailing (1.1%).
“Retailers told us that the success of Black Friday sales was boosted by consumers seeking out discounts in response to cost-of-living pressures,” Ewing said.
Retail turnover grew across the country with large rises in all states and territories. South Australia (2.8%) had the largest rise, followed by Victoria (2.4%), with both states recording a fall in October.
“It’s clear that spending during Black Friday sales continues to grow across the country, with retail turnover increasing by more than one per cent in all states and territories,” Ewing said.
In year-on-year (YoY) terms, November sales have risen 2.2% - or $790 million. Most categories also recorded YoY growth, with the most significant year-on-year sales increases coming from cafes, restaurants, and takeaway (4.3%) and food (2.8%).
Department stores recorded an increase of 3.3%, with fashion sales flatlining at 0.1%.
Other retailing, including recreational, sporting goods, cosmetics was up 1.2% and household goods recorded its first YoY increase in 2023, up 0.5%.
All states and territories recorded yearly, led by the ACT (5.2%), then South Australia (4.5%) and Northern Territory (4.1%), followed by Western Australia (3.5%), Victoria (2.3%), Queensland (1.7%), Tasmania (1.5%) and New South Wales (1.2%).
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) CEO Paul Zahra said November’s results were bolstered by essentials such as food, dining out and Black Friday spending.
“While spending expectations heading into the broader pre-Christmas spending period were subdued, the growing popularity of Black Friday gave retailers some much-needed reprieve with shoppers seeking out bargains amid intense financial pressure,” Zahra said.
“This certainly contributed to November’s overall spending growth, especially considering the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to raise the cash rate on Melbourne Cup Day.
“Shoppers are increasingly feeling the crunch of cost-of-living pressures and interest rate increases, making it a challenging time to be a discretionary retailer.”