ABS: Cost-Of-Living Pressures Seem To Be Slowing Growth In Spending

Alongside the retail sales release, the ABS noted that “while the 0.2% rise in June 2022 was the sixth-straight rise in retail turnover, it was also the smallest so far this year. Results were mixed across the six industries, with turnover rising in three of them and falling in the others, as cost-of-living pressures appear to be slowing the growth in spending. Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food services had the largest rise, up 2.7%, followed by clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing (1.3%), and other retailing (0.5%). Department stores saw the largest fall, down 3.7%, followed by food retailing (-0.3%) and household goods retailing (-0.3%). Given the increases in prices we’ve seen in the Consumer Price Index, it will also be important to look at changes in the volumes of retail goods, in next week’s release of quarterly data.”