Trade figures released for August today revealed a 3.77% total year-on-year increase, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
ARA executive Russell Zimmerman said the increase was driven by the launch of new season products and an unexpected helper - tax returns.
“We can see there was a slight uptick in consumer confidence around August with cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services showing the strongest year-on-year growth at 5%,” he said.
“Clothing, footwear and personal accessories also saw a strong 4% year-on-year growth this August as some confidence returned to consumers after receiving their tax refunds.”
The ARA believe these strong mid-year figures are also a consequence from the psychological effect of the personal tax cuts coming into play from July this year.
“This quiet consumer confidence can be seen across various retail categories with consumers rewarding themselves with little luxuries across the market,” Zimmerman said.
“Department stores saw solid growth in August with this retail category reaching 2% year-on-year growth - the biggest increase they’ve seen since May this year.”
National Retail Association acting CEO Lindsay Carroll said the result should not make retailers complacent ahead of Christmas.
“The August ABS retail figures are far from disastrous, but they do show that the sector is continuing to experience a modest sales period,” Carroll said.
“The August report is certainly an improvement on July, with five of the six retail industries recording a rise in turnover, and all state and territories bar the Northern Territory seeing an increase in sales.
Carroll said the figures further emphasised the need for governments to put in place retail friendly measures ahead of Christmas.
“Given this is the weakest back-to-back monthly sales result for the whole of 2018, it’s very important that we don’t get complacent ahead of the most important period of the year, especially with increases to Saturday and evening penalty rates being phased-in for casual employees in retail from 1 November,” Carroll said.
Tasmania (6.20%) led the country in August trade, with Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%) and the Australian Capital Territory (4.20%) not far behind. Queensland (2.39%) remained steady in August, whereas the Northern Territory (0.04%) received minimal growth and Western Australia (-0.99%) unfortunately remained in negative territory for the fourth month in a row.
Monthly Retail Growth (July 2018 - August 2018 seasonally adjusted)
Department stores (0.87%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.79%), Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.70%), Other retailing (0.37%), Household goods retailing (0.20%) and Food retailing (-0.02%).
South Australia (0.78%), Tasmania (0.61%), New South Wales (0.52%), Victoria (0.23%), Australian Capital Territory (0.18%), Queensland (0.07%), Western Australia (-0.03%), and Northern Territory (-1.32%).
Total sales (0.29%).
Year-on-Year Retail Growth (August 2017 – August 2018 seasonally adjusted)
Cafés, restaurants and takeaway food services (5.01%), Food retailing (4.34%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (4.05%), Other retailing (3.43%), Household goods retailing (2.16%) and Department stores (2.04%).
Tasmania (6.20%), Victoria (5.93%), South Australia (4.70%), New South Wales (4.28%), Australian Capital Territory (4.20%), Queensland (2.39%), Northern Territory (0.04%) and Western Australia (-0.99%),
Total sales (3.77%).