Retail Trade, Australia

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Monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales.

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Reference period
February 2022
Released
29/03/2022
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Key statistics

The February 2022 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Rose 1.8% month-on-month.
  • Rose 9.1% compared with February 2021.

An additional information release on 4 April 2022 has seen the inclusion of more detailed results for the February 2022 reference period. Additional timeseries spreadsheets have be published, including; state by industry results, state by industry sub-group results, December quarter 2021 turnover volumes, and online sales.

To understand more about changes in this issue, suspension of trend estimates, and COVID-19 in February 2022, please read the survey impacts and changes.

Turnover at current prices
Feb-2022 ($m)Jan-2022 to Feb-2022 (% change)Feb-2021 to Feb-2022 (% change)
Trendnanana
Seasonally adjusted33,085.41.89.1

na not available

Total retail turnover

Analysis by industry

Food retailing

Food retailing fell 2.6% (-$340.2m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Household goods retailing

Household goods retailing rose 2.3% ($136.8m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing

Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 11.2% ($282.6m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Department stores

Department stores rose 11.1% ($175.9m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Other retailing

Other retailing fell 1.1% (-$57.2m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services rose 9.7% ($395.6m) in February, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Online Retailing

Total online retailing sales were $3,649.9m in February 2022, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales fell 3.8% (-$142.3m), partially unwinding the rise in January when online sales rose for the first time since state lockdowns ended in October 2021. The fall continues the pattern seen prior to last month’s rise where online sales have fallen as restrictions continue to ease and consumers return to physical stores. Despite the recent fall, total online retailing turnover remains at an elevated level, up 22.8% ($677.9m) compared to February 2021, in seasonally adjusted terms.

In February 2022, Food online sales were $1,012m, and Non-Food online sales were $2,638m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Non-Food sales predominately drove the fall in February’s total online sales, down 4.5% (-$123.6m) with consumers more confident to shop in store as restrictions continue to ease further as the Omicron wave bottomed out. Food sales had a smaller fall of 1.8% (-$18.6m).

In original terms, the proportion of online sales for Food retailing was 5.7% in February 2022, slightly down from 5.8% in January 2022. The portion of Food sales made online continues to remain higher than the months prior to the Delta Outbreak in June 2021. The proportion of online sales for Non-Food retailing was 16.1% in February 2022, down from 17.5% in the month prior. Like Food, the portion of Non-Food sales made online remains elevated.

In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing was 10.4% in February 2022, down from 11.1% last month.

Additional notes regarding the online sales series can be found in Methodology.

Data downloads

Tables 5 through to 23 have been made available on 4 April 2022.  Tables 1 through to 4 remain unchanged from their release on 29 March 2022. 

Download all (4.44 MB)

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

The data available in Data Explorer is similar to ABS.Stat but with a new interface and added functionality.
For more information about Data Explorer and to see what's changed, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

Retail Trade, Key Statistics - Monthly retail trade estimates for Australian businesses classified by industry group, or by state and territory.

Retail Trade  - Monthly and quarterly retail trade turnover estimates for Australian businesses classified by industry group, sub group, and by state and territory.

Survey impacts and changes

The revised release schedule for Retail Trade, Australia

Changes in this issue

Extraordinary Annual Seasonal Review (EASR)

Suspension of trend series

Coronavirus (COVID-19) in February

Differences between Retail Trade and New Experimental Economic Indicators

Post release changes

04/04/2022 - As advertised in the main release of this publication on 29 March 2022, the time series spreadsheets for tables 5 through to 23 are now available under the Data Downloads section. This includes:

  • February monthly results for State by Industry Subgroup, Completely Enumerated (large) and Sample (small) businesses, and Online Retail Turnover. 
  • December quarter 2021 results, available in tables 5 through to 10. These results have been published previously.

In addition, an online retailing section has been added to this publication, which shows the most up-to-date online retail sales.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.

Inquiries

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Methodology

Retail Trade, Australia methodology, February 2022

Media releases