Australian retail sales rose 7.1% in November, ABS reports

Australian retail sales soared to 7.1 per cent in November 2020, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed on Monday.

The jump in retail sales updates the preliminary result of 7.0 per cent, and follows a rise of 1.4 per cent in October 2020.

The rise in November was led by the southeastern state of Victoria when lockdown was lifted and consumers were taking advantage of discounts from Black Friday sales.

“The rise is led by Victoria (22.4 per cent) as Melbourne retail stores were able to trade for a full month in November. Excluding Victoria, turnover rose 2.6 per cent,” said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys.

Other states and territories to record an increase in turnover were Queensland (4.5 per cent), New South Wales (2.3 per cent), Western Australia (1.2 per cent), Tasmania (3.4 per cent), the Australian Capital Territory (2.5 per cent), and the Northern Territory (2.2 per cent). The brief lockdown in South Australia (-0.2 per cent) led to a relatively flat result, as falls in most industries were offset by a rise in food sales.

ABS reported that the rise in Australian retail sales, particularly in household goods retailing, were also attributed to the release of new games consoles and new iPhones and Black Friday sales, which also contributed to the increase across a number of industries.

Total retail turnover rose 13.3 per cent compared to November 2019.

In November last year, online sales made up 11.0 per cent of total retail turnover, compared to 10.4 per cent the month before. In November 2019, ABS reported that online retail turnover contributed 7.2 per cent to total retail.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics