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Australia’s retail sales, despite lockdown, rose 0.4% during the June quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics informed on Wednesday.
For most part of the quarter, people across the country had upped their discretionary spends.
"Households increased their discretionary spending for much of the quarter, with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (3.9%), other retailing (2.3%) and, clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (3%) all benefiting in volume terms,” said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys.
Quarterly volumes were also impacted by lockdowns from May onwards, having a detrimental impact on department store volumes (which were down 3.1%) in particular, he added.
New South Wales led the growth with 1.7% rise, Queensland saw retail sales rising by 0.6% and Western Australia by 0.8%. However, on the other side, South Australia (down 0.3%) and the Northern Territory (3%) were the only territories that witnessed fall in volume over the quarter.
On the monthly basis, the Australian retail turnover fell 1.8% in the month of June 2021 – unchanged from the preliminary numbers.
June’s fall in retail turnover was a complete turnaround from a rise of 0.4% in May 2021, and a rise of 1.1% in April 2021.
June retail sales were severely hit by stay-at-home orders for multiple states and territories, with the largest falls witnessed in cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (down 6%), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (9.5%), and department stores (7%).