Monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses, including store and online sales.
The March 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate:
| Mar-2025 ($m) | Feb-2025 to Mar-2025 (% change) | Mar-2024 to Mar-2025 (% change) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend | 37,257.7 | 0.2 | 4.1 |
| Seasonally adjusted | 37,275.1 | 0.3 | 4.3 |
| March Qtr 2025 ($m) | December Qtr 2024 to March Qtr 2025 (% change) | March Qtr 2024 to March Qtr 2025 (% change) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend | 105,859.7 | 0.5 | 1.4 |
| Seasonally adjusted | 105,695.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Food retailing rose 0.7% ($110.3m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Household goods retailing was relatively unchanged 0.0% (-$2.5m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing rose 0.3% ($8.1m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Department stores fell 0.5% (-$9.1m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Other retailing rose 0.7% ($43.4m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services fell 0.5% (-$27.8m) in March, in seasonally adjusted terms.
By industry subgroup, the seasonally adjusted estimate:
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
Total online retailing sales were $4,517.2m in March 2025, in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted online sales rose 0.6% ($25.6m), following a rise of 1.6% ($72.5m) in February 2025. Seasonally adjusted through-the-year sales are up 13.0% ($519.1m).
Original online sales rose 11.9% ($448.4m) in March 2025 compared to a rise of 10.8% ($3,532.8m) in original total sales.
In March 2025, food online sales were $1,324.5m and non-food online sales were $3,192.7m, in seasonally adjusted terms. Food sales were flat (-$0.3m) whilst non-food rose 0.8% ($25.9m), seasonally adjusted.
In original terms, the proportion of online food retailing sales to total food retailing rose from 6.4% to 6.5%. The proportion for online non-food retailing sales to total non-food retailing rose from 18.1% to 18.3%.
In original terms, the proportion of online sales to total retailing rose from 11.5% to 11.6%. This compares to 10.5% in March 2024.
Additional notes regarding the online sales series can be found in the Methodology.
Retail volumes on a per capita basis fell 0.4% (-$15.9), following a rise last quarter of 0.4% ($15.5). This quarters fall follows two straight rises which were preceded by eight straight quarterly per capita volumes falls. The fall sees retail spending on a per person basis down 0.5% (-$20.4) compared to this time last year.
Having peaked in the June quarter 2022, retail volumes per capita are down 5.9% (-$240.8) since the peak, but remains up 3.2% ($118.9) compared to the December quarter 2019, the last quarter prior to the pandemic-period.
Trend estimates from March 2020 to June 2022 are not available due to the degree of disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19. Trend estimates throughout the pandemic period are likely to be unhelpful and potentially misleading for users in interpreting underlying trend in retail activity.
From the March quarter 2025, the Survey of Consumer Sales time series spreadsheets (Table 17 & 18) will be published as part of Business Indicators, Australia (cat. no. 5676.0), with the first release on 3 June 2025. This is in line with the future cessation of the Retail Trade publication on 31 July 2025.
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Retail Trade - Monthly and quarterly retail trade turnover estimates for Australian businesses classified by industry group, sub group, and by state and territory.
This release previously used catalogue number 8501.0.
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This publication presents estimates of the value of turnover of retail trade for Australian businesses. This includes all employing retail trade businesses who predominantly sell to households.
Data is available for:
Retail Business Survey
The survey includes about 700 large businesses and 2,700 smaller businesses selected by random sample.
The survey is conducted monthly primarily by telephone interview. A small number of questionnaires are mailed.
Turnover includes:
Businesses are classified in terms of the retail industry group and subgroup it mainly operates in.
GST was included in turnover from 2000.