Some good news for retailers.

Australian retail turnover rose 0.3% in June 2017, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures. This follows a rise of 0.6% in May.

“In seasonally adjusted terms in June 2017, we saw rises in household goods retailing (0.9 per cent), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.5 per cent), clothing footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.8 per cent) and other retailing (0.2 per cent),” director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, Ben James said. “There was a fall in department stores (-0.3 per cent), while food retailing was relatively unchanged.”

National Retail Association CEO, Dominique Lamb said the slight increase demonstrates that the industry is once again gaining momentum across all states, nationwide.

“The figures indicate that the retail sector is showing signs of recovery after 12 months of operating amidst a challenging environment,” she said. “The rise across all industries within the sector is telling that we’re coming out of what has been a long period of sluggish growth.”

In seasonally adjusted terms there were rises in New South Wales (0.5%), Queensland (0.7%), Tasmania (0.6%), South Australia (0.3% and the Norther Territory (1.2%) but fall in Victoria (-0.3%) and the ACT (-0.1%)

Online retail turnover contributed 4.1% to total retail turnover.  The trend estimate for Australian retail turnover also rose 0.4 per cent in June 2017 following a 0.4 per cent rise in May and 0.4% in April 2017.

Lamb said that the outlook for retailers is improving in the lead-up to Father’s Day in September. “We anticipate a further increase in retail spending for July, as consumers hit the shops in preparation for Father’s Day,” she said.