Australian retail turnover rose 0.8 per cent in November 2024 on a month-on-month basis, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed, with fashion leading the charge.
The 0.8 per cent lift comes after growth of 0.5 per cent in October 2024 and 0.4 per cent in September 2024.
“Black Friday sales events proved once again to be a big hit, with widespread discounting and higher spending across all retail industries,” ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said.
“The popularity of Black Friday sales continues to grow with promotional activity now stretching across the entire month of November, not just solely focused on the Black Friday weekend.”
Department stores saw the largest monthly growth of 1.8 per cent in November - hitting $1.94 billion, while clothing, footwear and personal accessory spending lifted by 1.6 per cent to $3.06 billion. Both surpassed food services spending, which was up 1.5 per cent.
The three other retail categories - food retailing, household goods and other - all reported modest lifts as well of 0.5, 0.6 and 0.3 per cent respectively.
The lift up in both department stores and fashion followed declines for both categories in October, down 0.3 and 0.7 per cent respectively.
“Consumers have taken advantage of Black Friday sales once again, with discounting seen across clothing items, furniture, electrical goods and cosmetics,” Ewing said.
“Discounts were also seen in essential goods, with businesses in food retailing boosted by higher spending due to Black Friday price cuts and points incentives through rewards programs.”
Despite the monthly bump up for department stores, the category is the only one out of the six categories to record a yearly fall in spending for November, down 1.2 per cent or $24 million.
The largest yearly lift was recorded in other retailing - which includes recreational sporting goods and cosmetics - up 7 per cent in November 2024 compared to the same month last year.
Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway lifted 3.6 per cent, while food retailing lifted by 2.8 per cent. Fashion sales lifted by 1.8 per cent, followed by household goods up 1.2 per cent.
Overall retail sales lifted by 3 per cent in year-on-year terms.
Australian Retailers Association (ARA) chief industry affairs officer Fleur Brown said November’s results were bolstered by Black Friday activity and spending on food and hospitality categories as Australians entered peak season.
“This bargain hunting focus and a continued trend towards spending on little luxuries and the desire to celebrate the festive season with friends and family strongly contributed to November’s overall spending growth,” Brown said.
“We are pleased to see such a solid spending result in a challenging year, especially given the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to again keep the cash rate on hold.”
The ARA notes there are some timing differences in 2024 figures, with Cyber Monday falling in December, with those results to appear in the following month’s figures.
Retail turnover also rose in all states and territories with the impact of Black Friday felt across the country.
“The Northern Territory bounced back from two straight monthly falls following the end of the peak tourism season and adverse weather to see the largest rise of all states and territories,” Ewing said.