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Aussies spend up big during pre-Christmas sales
Consumers have taken advantage of new freedoms post-lockdown and pre-Christmas discounts as retail sales soared in November, official figures have revealed.
Aussies spend up big during pre-Christmas sales
Consumers have taken advantage of new freedoms post-lockdown and pre-Christmas discounts as retail sales soared in November, official figures have revealed.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that national retail turnover in November was 13.3 per cent higher than last year, led by Victorians enjoying a post-lockdown resurgence.
Victoria recorded the strongest growth – an increase of 22.4 per cent after its lockdown was lifted during the month. But even states that were not recording a rebound from lockdown performed well, with Queensland (4.5 per cent) and Tasmania (3.4 per cent) the next best.
“The rise is led by Victoria as Melbourne retail stores were able to trade for a full month in November. Excluding Victoria, turnover rose 2.6 per cent,” Ben James, director of quarterly economy wide surveys, said.
As expected, Black Friday and Cyber Monday were also large contributors to rising retail sales, with online sales rising to 11 per cent of total retail turnover for the month compared with 10.4 per cent in October.
Online retail sales contributed 7.2 per cent of the total retail sales.
“At the industry level, rises were recorded in household goods retailing (12.7 per cent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (26.7 per cent), other retailing (7.9 per cent), department stores (21.1 per cent), and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (6.7 per cent) in November 2020,” the ABS noted.
“The release of new game consoles and new iPhones added to sales in household goods and other retailing, while Black Friday sales also contributed to the increase across a number of industries.”
The National Retail Association’s CEO, Dominique Lamb, described the pre-Christmas sales as a miracle for Australian retailers and was precisely what the industry needed following a difficult year.
“It’s understandable that there would be an increase from October to November as lockdowns eased,” Ms Lamb said.
“What’s most pleasing is the very strong year-on-year increase. This shows that Australian consumers remained confident and were spending on items for themselves and for their homes.
“Clearly, people had more cash in their pockets, despite the higher than expected unemployment rates. This is partly due to the lockdown and inability to travel, but it’s also due to the well-targeted stimulus packages delivered by the state and federal governments.”
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