Online sales accelerated over the year and month

• NAB Online Retail Sales Index (NORSI) accelerated strongly in November(+4.7% mom s.a.). This is the highest monthly growth rate since December 2014. Year-on-year growth was also stronger in November, with sales up 14.4% compared to last year. Trend online retail sales is still much stronger than the early months of 2017.
• ABS data on traditional retailers showed month on month seasonally adjusted sales grew (0.5%) in October. The revised equivalent NORSI for October was 2.0%, so NORSI outpaced traditional sales in that month.
• We estimate that Australian consumers have spent around $24 billion over the 12 months to November 2017. This is equivalent to 7.7% of spending at traditional bricks & mortar retailers, as measured by the ABS in the 12 months to October 2017.
• Most categories accelerated in November (yoy), with Daily Deals (35.1% yoy November vs 18.6% yoy October), and the much larger category Homeware and Appliances (24.9 % vs 3.8%) recording the most rapid growth over the past year. Although Media (21.6% vs 23.9%) was 3rd fastest, it did slow slightly. Food Catering (12.9% vs 8.6%), Games & Toys (12.1% vs 2.3%), and Grocery and Liquor (10.2% vs 9.7%) also recorded double digit growth. Department stores (9.6% vs 8.1%), Personal and Recreational slowed (6.0% vs 8.8%), and Fashion rebounded after a period of weaker sales (5.0% vs 0%).
• SME sales represent just over a third of all online sales. Seasonally adjusted SME sales saw a slight slowing in November (3.0%,mom s.a.) with large online retailer growth much faster in the month.

For further details, please see the attached document.

• NAB Online Retail Sales Index: November 2017 (PDF, 901kb)