Spending across fashion and department stores fell by $124.2 million collectively in April 2024, driving an overall slip of 0.1 per cent in month-on-month retail spending across Australia.
This is according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which shows that total retail spending hit $37.20 billion in April, down from $37.23 billion in March 2025.
The overall fall was driven by a 2.5 per cent fall in both department stores and clothing, footwear and accessories, respectively. Fashion spending fell by $76.2 million, with much of this accounted for in clothing retailing (down $67.7 million), followed by an $8.5 million fall in footwear and other personal accessory retailing.
Spending across department stores fell by $48 million.
Fashion spending remained just above $3 billion in April, with department stores at $1.89 billion.
These falls were partially offset by rises in other retailing – beauty, pharmaceutical, hairdressing, etc – (up 0.7 per cent) and household goods retailing (up 0.6 per cent).
“Clothing retailers told us that the warmer-than-usual weather for an April month saw people holding off on buying clothing items, especially new winter season stock,” ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said.
Ewing added that the falls were also partly offset by a bounce-back in Queensland as businesses recovered from the negative impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred last month.
Retail turnover rose in Queensland by 1.4 per cent, with Western Australia coming behind up 0.4 per cent.
“‘Queensland retailers recovered from last month’s temporary business closures and fewer customers,” Ewing said.
“In April, we saw higher spending in the industries most impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. More people dined out and made recovery purchases on household items like furniture and electrical goods.”
All other states and territories had a fall after growth in March.
Having underpinned recent growth, food-related spending continued to rise, with growth in cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (up 1.1 per cent). This was partially offset by a fall in food retailing (down 0.3 per cent).
“The rise in food-related spending was driven by more dining out in Queensland this month,” Ewing said. “The bounce-back comes after adverse weather negatively impacted cafe and restaurant sales.”
In year-on-year terms, overall retail spending grew by 3.8 per cent, with department store spending remaining relatively flat. Fashion spending grew by $45.7 million year-on-year.