Australia’s retail sales across the December quarter dropped 0.2 per cent, a modest fall compared to economist expectations.
“Retail sales volumes fell for the first time since the September quarter 2021, with volumes falling across all non-food industries as consumers tightened discretionary spending in response to mounting cost of living pressures,” the ABS says.
“Retail prices remain high, but price growth slowed to 1.1 per cent in December due to flat food retailing prices and additional discounting during Black Friday sales.
“This was the smallest rise in retail prices for 2022.”
The fall in the December quarter follows a 0.3 per cent rise in the September quarter 2022.
Retail sales rose 7.5 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2021. While this seems impressive, its less than inflation, and therefore a backward step, in real terms.
The 0.2 per cent drop from the September quarter is, however, slightly less than a 0.5 per cent fall expected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Department stores suffered the biggest drop for the quarter, down 2.9 per cent, followed by ‘other retailing’ (down 2.4 per cent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (down 2.3 per cent) and household goods retailing (down 2.0 per cent).
Food retailing was up 2.1 per cent from the September quarter, the first jump since Delta lockdowns ended.
“This flat price result was lower than the rise in the CPI food and non-alcoholic beverages series due to scope differences between the two series,” the ABS says.
“Food retailing prices reflect Supermarket, liquor and other specialised food store prices and excludes the CPI meals out and takeaway food series, which was a major component of the rise in the CPI index for food.”
