The latest ABS retail sales data reported a hefty 3.9% decline in December; albeit following eleven consecutive rises:
Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics, noted “the large fall in December suggests that retail spending is slowing due to high cost-of-living pressures. Retail businesses reported that many consumers had responded to these pressures by doing more Christmas shopping in November to take advantage of heavy promotional activity and discounting as part of the Black Friday sales event”.
Discretionary spending fell particularly hard. Department stores reported the largest fall (-14.3%), followed by clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-13.1%), household goods retailing (-7.8%) and other retailing (-4.6%).
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