Retail turnover increased 0.3% in March, according to the latest statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This result follows on from a 0.9% increase in February, with the director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, Ben Faulkner, saying that Food retailing came out on top in March, with Clothing and footwear retailing following in close behind.
"Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.4%) and Food retailing (0.4%) led the rises, with strength in food prices contributing to rises, especially in supermarkets and grocery stores.
"Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (1.2%) and Household goods retailing (0.2%) also rose. The rises were partially offset by falls in Department stores (-1.5%) and Other retailing (-0.4%)," he said.
In seasonally adjusted terms, Victoria and the Northern Territory performed the strongest in March, both rising 0.7%, while Queensland (0.6%), New South Wales (0.2%), Tasmania (0.4%) and South Australia (0.1%) also rose. The ACT experienced no change, while Western Australia declined 0.7% in March 2019.
Online retailing contributed 5.7% to the total retail turnover in March 2019, a 0.6% increase compared to March 2018.
The results were released on May 07.