Australia’s department stores have seen a rise in sales volumes up 1.5% in the 2023 March quarter, with fashion, footwear and accessories nudging up by 0.2%, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed.
The lift in both sectors came amid promotional activity and heavy discounts throughout the quarter, which boosted sales volumes.
Despite the rise in fashion and department stores, overall Australian retail sales volumes fell 0.6% in the quarter, following a 0.3% fall in the December quarter, 2022.
Outside of the COVID-19 pandemic period, ABS head of retail statistics Ben Dorber said this is the largest fall in retail sales volumes since the September quarter 2009.
As with the Consumer Price Index for the March quarter, retail prices remain high but price growth has slowed to 0.6% this quarter.
“Retail prices rose for the sixth straight quarter, but price growth this quarter is the smallest since September 2021,” Dorber said.
“The slowdown in price growth was mainly due to discounts on clothing and large household items such as furniture and electronic goods, while food retailing prices continue rising.”
Retail sales volumes for household goods retailing fell 3.7%, the fifth consecutive fall. Consumers continue to spend less on large discretionary purchases in this industry, which peaked in the December quarter of 2021 with higher demand during COVID-19.
Other retailing sales volumes fell 0.8%.
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services sales volumes rose 1.0%, with ABS citing the continued return of large-scale cultural and sporting events for the lift.
“We saw this rise in sales volumes even though businesses are passing on their rising costs to consumers,” Dorber said.
Food retailing was unchanged (0.0%) and followed a 1.8% rise last quarter. Food volumes through the year have only increased 0.1%, compared to a 6.9% rise in retail prices.
“This means the turnover growth in food retailing we’ve seen each month over the past year, which includes price effects, has been driven by food inflation alone,” Dorber said.
There were mixed results across the country, with four states and territories recording a fall in volumes, while two recorded a rise and two remained relatively unchanged. Queensland (-2.2%) had the largest dip in sales volumes, the third consecutive quarterly fall with retail volumes back to levels seen in late 2021.