Clothing, footwear and personal accessories are big winners this summer.
Australian Bureau of Statistics Retail Trade data shows year on year growth of 4% for January.
The biggest categories were household goods and other retailing, with 5.8% and 4.8% growth respectively.
Clothing, footwear and personal accessories clocked in a 4.7% rise in sales.
Department stores had the smallest increase at 1%, coming off 5% year on year growth in December.
January’s growth is identical to that of December 2015, and reflects a total retail spend by of Aussies of $24.8 billion for the month.
Year on year figures provide the most accurate measure of the sector’s performance and are the figures used by most retail businesses in their own reporting.
January 2016 sales showed a 0.3% increase over December 2015’s static result.
Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said the result is in line with expectations.
“While this is a great start to the new year, what we really would like to see is sustained, incremental rises in retail sales.
“Retailers are now coming off the strongest trading period of the year, being December and January, and maintaining the momentum of Christmas and post-Christmas is vital,” he said.
“Post-Christmas sales, and parents and children preparing for the new school year are responsible for the bulk of January’s growth.
"Balmy summer temperatures combined with some January discounts on summer season apparel also contributed to the boost,” said Zimmerman.
State-wise, the ACT saw a tremendous increase of an unprecedented 7.7% – a level not seen since June 2015.
NSW beat out rival Victoria, with the two posting rises of 5.2% and 5% respectively.
“Victoria has been the forerunner when it comes to retail sales growth for the past few months, and to have the ACT demonstrate such a considerable increase is wonderful news, given it follows on from handful of slower months,” Zimmerman said.