The Mastercard SpendingPulse™, which measured in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment found that sales in February also increased 3 per cent compared to January and are up 14 per cent on pre-pandemic conditions in 2020.
Household goods remains the top-performing retail category, recording the seventh straight month of positive year-on-year growth, with sales up 18.1 per cent followed by clothing (up 12.2 per cent YOY) and food retailing (up 5.4 per cent YOY).
However, department stores recorded its ninth straight month of negative year-on-year growth, with sales down 3.7 per cent in February compared to a year earlier (though +3.9 per cent since February 2020).
All the states and territories experienced positive sales growth in February with Victoria recording the biggest increase, up 11.8 per cent compared to the same month last year, followed by Western Australia (up 10 per cent YOY) and Tasmania (up 9.3 per cent YOY).
Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said consumer spending in Australia continues to be upbeat despite the challenging business conditions.
“Retailers have navigated the worst of the pandemic however, we’ve now entered a period of global economic uncertainty, which has strained global energy supplies and is impacting cost of living pressures with rising inflation also a significant concern,” Mr Zahra said.
“There are other local issues at play with Covid-related supply chain issues and the devastating floods in NSW and Queensland also impacting business costs and the movement of goods, coupled with ongoing staff shortages. Despite the challenging business conditions, consumer spending continued to be upbeat during February and most categories of retail recorded positive year on year growth.
“Our CBDs are on the slow road to recovery with an encouraging lift in the office occupancy rate in our capital cities in February, which is providing a much-needed boost to CBD retailers through increased foot traffic.
“Whilst minimal Covid restrictions are currently in place in most parts of the country, the close contact isolation requirements are continuing to put staff out of action and crippling small businesses in particular. We continue to call for national alignment where close contacts don’t have to isolate, provided they’re showing no symptoms and testing negative. This is an important step in our journey to living with Covid and treating it as any other virus – especially as our vaccination rates continue to be world-leading.”
