Australia: Online sales growing over the year, slight slowing in the month - NAB

Australia’s NAB Online Retail Sales Index (NORSI) slowed in July (+0.4% mom s.a.) and the slowing in the past couple of months is on the back of the May sales rebound (+1.5%,mom s.a.), according to Brien McDonald, Senior Economist a NAB.

Key Quotes

“Year-on-year growth was also slightly weaker in July (8.3%) but remains positive. Trend online retail sales (+0.5%) slightly more subdued compared to the previous two months (0.6%).”

“ABS data on traditional retailers showed month on month seasonally adjusted sales up 0.3% in June. However NORSI was still faster month-on-month.”

“We estimate that Australian consumers have spent around $23.06 billion over the 12 months to July 2017. This is equivalent to 7.5% of spending at traditional bricks & mortar retailers, as measured by the ABS in the 12 months to June 2017.”

“Mixed results by category this month, with Department Stores (12.1% yoy July  vs 8.4% yoy June), Grocery and Liquor (7.7% vs 5.4%), Daily Deals (6.5% vs 5.3%), and Fashion (0.7% vs -2.4%) accelerating through the year. The largest spend share, Homeware and Appliances (15.4% vs 16.0%) was only slightly slower over the year, and maintains the fastest overall growth position. Games and Toys (11.9% vs 12.0%) sales were virtually unchanged while, Media growth halved in the 12 months to July (8.1% vs 16.7%). Personal and Recreational (2.0% vs 2.7%), and Food Catering (11.5% vs 13.6%) also slowed but remained positive.”

“SME sales represents just over a third of all online sales. Seasonally adjusted SME sales saw a mild contraction in the month (-0.1%, mom s.a.) despite strong year-on-year growth for SMEs (17.5%).”