September sees surge in online retail sales: NAB
Online retail sales saw a rapid uptick in growth across all categories throughout September, according to NAB Group Economics.
The latest version of the NAB Online Retail Sales Index demonstrated significant growth on a month-to-month seasonally adjusted basis.
In September, the index was measured at 2.4 per cent, up from 0.1 per cent in August.
Growth on year-to-year terms was also seen to have accelerated, measured at 12.4 per cent year on year.
All categories recorded a level of growth; however, an acceleration was only experienced by half the categories.
Monthly growth was led by the largest sales category, homewares and appliances, which rebounded rapidly over the month along with department stores.
The major bank noted the monthly growth for department stores also boosted its growth in year-on-year terms.
NAB chief economist Alan Oster said the acceleration in growth for online sales in September was pleasing to see.
“The index has improved for the past two months, after weakness in July,” Oster said.
“In August, the two largest sales categories, homewares and appliances and department stores, along with mid-size category personal and recreational goods, contracted, netting growth from other categories. The rebound in growth for these categories in September has been considerable.”
On a state level, all states and territories recorded a level of growth in online retail sales, except for the Northern Territory.
A “rapid acceleration” was noted for Western Australia, while Victoria and the ACT both recorded a rebound for the month.
According to NAB, there was a decrease in growth for the grocery and liquor category which could be attributed to contractions in NSW and Victoria, the two largest sales states.
Aggregate sales were led by metro areas in NSW and South Australia, while regional growth bolstered Victoria and Western Australia.
It was noted in the results that metro growth continued to “outpace” regional growth, which was most evident in NSW and South Australia, with all other states’ sales in favour of regional.
Oster noted the monthly results were always volatile, but trends could be identified.
“Over the year, department store growth has been rapid, and this has been particularly noticeable in Tasmania, Western Australia, ACT, and Queensland, with Victoria and NSW slightly slower than the aggregate for the category,” he said.
“Over the past two years, Western Australia has on average, ranked either first or second for year-on-year growth for this category, while Victoria has generally ranked lower.”
The results revealed growth across domestic and international retailers over the month and that the gap between domestic and international had recently closed as international rebounded.
The bank estimated that Australians had spent $58.79 billion on online retail over the 12 months leading to September.
NAB said this was a level of around 13.7 per cent of the total retail trade estimate by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
About the author
