In the year to December 2013, Australians spent $14.7 billion on online retail. This level is equivalent to 6.5% of spending with traditional bricks & mortar retailers (excluding cafés, restaurants and takeaway food to create a like-for-like comparison) in the year to November.
The NAB Online Retail Sales Index increased modestly in December – to a seasonally adjusted 240 points (from 237 points in November).
Online retail sales continued to grow in December. In seasonally adjusted three month moving average terms online sales expanded 1.58% (from a 1.65% increase in November). The recent growth comes after the relatively flat August to October period, and is more on par with the growth seen in July.
Sales growth for traditional bricks & mortar retail has improved in recent months, maintaining momentum of about +0.6%, in November (seasonally adjusted, 3 month moving average basis).
The improved growth trend for online retail sales reflects almost uniform improvement in conditions at the category level. In year-on-year terms, the online index grew +12.6%, an acceleration on the November result (+11.2%). Particular strength was observed in Electronic Games and Toys category (+32%), a likely beneficiary of new games console releases and subscriptions. Groceries and Liquor (+24%) was also stronger, though Media (+21%) experienced slower growth. Personal & Recreational Goods (-1%YoY) was the only category to experience a contraction, albeit an improvement on the November result.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
