We expect growth in the global economy to remain subdued out to 2026.
Insight
October 1, 2015
NAB Online Retail Sales Index – August 2015
The latest NAB online retail sales index figures show sales grew in August. In dollar terms, its estimated Australians spent $17.5 billion on online retail in the last year. Growth accelerated for electronic games and toys which leads growth, along with media and fashion.
Online sales rose 0.6 per cent in August 2015
At 0.6% the latest seasonally adjusted NAB online retail sales index shows sales grew in August, an improvement on the -1.4% recorded in July. At 0.4%, the trend estimate for online retail sales was lower than the previous month (0.5%), suggesting that looking through the month to month volatility, sales are still growing but at a much slower rate than in past periods. We estimate that online sales are now 7% higher compared to a year ago.
ABS data showed growth of comparable traditional retailers (ex. cafes and restaurants) in July to be -0.1% (mom, s.a.) lower than June, and 4.7% higher than a year ago.
In dollar terms, we estimate Australians spent $17.5 billion on online retail in the 12 months to August 2015. This level is equivalent to 7.1% of spending at traditional bricks & mortar retailers as measured by the ABS (excluding cafes, restaurants and takeaway food, to create a like-for-like comparison) in the 12 months to July 2015.
In year on year terms, all categories except daily deals (-16.3% yoy) recorded growth in August. Growth accelerated for electronic games and toys (+27.2% yoy), which still leads growth, along with media (+17.7% yoy), fashion(11.4%), and personal & recreational goods (+7.3%). Growth was stable for department and variety stores (1.9% yoy), while both grocery & liquor and homewares slowed.
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