Australian shoppers put their wallets and cards on hold in July after boosting spending in May and June during end-of-financial-year specials from desperate retailers.
Retail sales figures for last month, issued Friday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), showed no growth from June.
This followed growth of 0.5% in both June 2024 and May 2024. May’s 0.5% rise was revised down from the initially reported increase of 0.6%, while June sales remained unchanged.
Sales were up 2.3% from July 2023, down from 2.9% in June.
This means sales growth was less than the annual inflation rate for another month (around 3.5%).
However, the fact that sales were unchanged was a small positive, as it confirmed that the higher growth rate of the previous months had been sustained at the start of the new financial year.
ABS Head of Retail Statistics, Ben Dorber, said in Friday’s release, “After rises in the past two months boosted by mid-year sales activity, the higher level of retail turnover was maintained in July.”
Still, every segment except food retailing showed no growth or was weaker.
Food retailing grew by 0.2% in July, which could be attributed to higher prices for some key fruits and vegetables, such as berries and tomatoes.
Clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing saw the biggest fall in the month—down by half a per cent—with sales through department stores down 0.4%, while cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food services saw a 0.2% dip. Household goods retailing and other retailing were both unchanged (0.0%).
“The fall in turnover for clothing and footwear retailers and department stores came after higher spending during recent mid-year sales events. Household goods retailers held onto large gains in turnover in recent months,” Mr Dorber said.
Retail turnover growth was mixed across the country, with four states and territories seeing a rise, while the remaining four fell.
“Western Australia continues to be the standout of the states and territories, having risen for the seventh consecutive month, up 4.6% compared to July 2023,” Mr Dorber said.