Clothing, footwear and accessories retailing took a hit in August, declining 10.5%, driven by the lockdown restrictions in Victoria, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
ABS director of quarterly economy wide surveys Ben James said that the restrictions in Victoria contributed to national declines.
"Victoria, which faced Stage 3 and 4 restrictions in August, fell 12.6% in seasonally adjusted terms.
"All industries fell in August, as trading restrictions in Victoria drove falls at a national level.
"Household goods retailing (-6.0%), other retailing (-5.1%), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-10.5%), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-6.6%), and department stores (-8.9%) saw large falls.
"Food retailing (-0.2%) saw a minor fall," he said.
Overall, retail turnover declined 4% in August, which updates the predicted 4.2% fall.
This decline follows a rise of 3.2% in July.
Online sales comprised 11% of total retail turnover in August, compared to 9.8% in July.
In August 2019, online retail contributed 6.4% to total retail.
The ABS reports that while retail has experienced significant rises and falls during 2020, the levels that have been recorded over the past three months are well above levels of a year ago.
Retail rose 7.1% compared to August 2019, with food retailing, household goods retailing and other retailing particularly strong in through-the-year terms.
Geographically, only the Northern Territory and the ACT experienced rises in August, lifting 2% and 0.7% respectively.
New South Wales led the falls in August, declining 2%, while Queensland followed, slipping 1.1%.
South Australia (-0.9%), Western Australia (-0.4%) and Tasmania (-0.2%) experienced smaller declines in August.