Australian real retail spending falls in Q2 2020

Australian national real retail spending dropped in the second quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the retail spending dropped 3.4 percent, including a nominal fall of 2.2 percent and price growth of 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Social categories such as dining/takeaway and fashion were impacted by lockdowns in April-May, declining 29 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, household goods rose 14.6 percent from extra time spent at home and the establishment of work-from-home spaces. The second set of lockdown in Victoria might see less of this home spending upside, as income disruptions deepen and fewer transitions from workplace to work-from-home take place.

Groceries eased from the first quarter, coming in at -1.6 percent, as stockpiling ended in March. The sharp rise in grocery and household goods spending since March led to solid price growth in these categories. Prices rose 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, culminating in the largest year-on-year price growth since the introduction of GST in 2000.

Victoria and New South Wales performed worst in the second quarter, as they faced the strictest lockdowns and the highest numbers of cases in all the states/territories.