Sales volumes within fashion, footwear and accessories retailing lifted by 1.1 per cent in the June quarter of 2023, new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data has revealed.
ABS noted that the increase defied all other retail sectors that recorded dips and was accelerated by additional promotional activity and discounting.
Overall retail sales volumes across Australia fell by 0.5 per cent in the latest quarter, making it the third quarter in a row to see a fall. It follows a 0.8 per cent drop in the March quarter and a 0.4 per cent fall in the December quarter.
ABS head of retail statistics Ben Dorber said the fall in overall retail sales volumes shows the extent that consumers have pulled back on spending in response to cost-of-living pressures.
“It’s the first time since 2008 that retail sales volumes have recorded three consecutive quarterly falls,” Dorber said.
”Retail sales volumes are down 1.4 per cent compared to the June quarter last year. Outside of the pandemic period, this is the first time since 1991 that sales volumes have fallen compared to the previous year.”
Meanwhile, retail prices - which are based on data from the Consumer Price Index - rose 0.9 per cent this quarter, up from 0.7 per cent in March.
“Retail prices rose for the seventh straight quarter, but have eased from the strong growth throughout 2022,” Mr Dorber said.
Household goods saw the largest drop in retail sales volumes, down 1.5 per cent, followed by department stores a negative 1.4 per cent. Other retailing, such as florists, remained relatively unchanged at 0.0 per cent.
“The widespread fall in sales volumes reflects what retailers have been telling us about consumers focusing on essentials, buying less or switching to cheaper brands,” Dorber said.
Results were split across the country, with the five eastern states and territories recording a fall in volumes, while the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia recorded lifts of 1.0 per cent, 0.7 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted online retail turnover saw a rise of $24.3 million to $3.9 billion in June 2023, ABS data revealed.
Seasonally adjusted online sales rose 0.6 per cent, following a rise of 5.0 per cent ($188.4m) in May 2023. Seasonally adjusted through-the-year sales are up 8.6 per cent ($312.9m).
The latest seasonally adjusted figure for online retail sales is nearly double the amount pre-pandemic (January 2020 - $1.8b), rising by $2.1 billion in just over three years.
Original sales in June 2023 fell by 1.0 per cent (-$38.1m).
Food retail online sales were $1.1 billion and non-food online sales were $2.8 billion in seasonally adjusted terms. Food sales rose 2.9 per cent ($32.1m) whilst non-food fell 0.3 per cent (-$7.8m).
In original terms, the proportion of online food retailing sales to total food retailing rose from 5.7 per cent to 5.9 per cent. The proportion for online non-food retailing sales to total non-food retailing fell from 17.2 per cent to 17.0 per cent.
The proportion of online sales to total retailing rose from 10.9 per cent in May 2023 to 11.0 per cent in June 2023. This proportion is the highest since November 2022, when online sales made up 12.6 per cent of total retailing sales.