Disparate to positive forecasts, it
appears consumers spent with
caution last Christmas, following a reported decline in retail sales for December, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The latest figures reveal a fall of 0.7% in December (seasonally adjusted), compared with the 1.5% increase from the month prior.

Sales fall in four sectors

Sales fell across four retail industry groups. Department stores experienced a 3.5% decline, while Clothing, Footwear & Other Personal Accessory Retailing declined by 1.9%. Food Retailing fell by 1.3% and Household Goods Retailing experienced a fall of 0.3%.

Sales increased for Cafes, Restaurants & Takeaway Food Services by 2.5%, while Other Retailing remained flat for the month.
 

NSW the most spend-happy, South Australia the least

South Australia recorded the largest fall in sales in December, with a 3.7% decline, followed by Tasmania which experienced a 2% decline. Victoria sales fell by 1%, Queensland by 0.6% and the Northern Territory by 0.4% and the Australian Capital Territory by 0.4%. Western Australia experienced the smallest decline, of 0.1%.

New South Wales, the only state to record an increase in sales in December, saw a rise of 0.1%. Trend turnover for December 2009 rose by 0.3%.

In seasonally adjusted volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.1% in the December quarter, compared with a fall of 0.7% in the September quarter. In trend volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.3% for the December quarter, being the 5th consecutive quarter of positive trend volume growth.