Australian retail sales rose by 1.6% year on year in February 2024, adjusted for the leap-year effect. Sales trends are very weak, given population and price are still positive contributors to retail. As a silver lining, retail is now almost back to pre COVID-19 underlying sales trends. Perhaps the mean-reversion is done? The weakest categories in February were furniture, electronics and footwear. Pharmacy, cosmetics and apparel did well. We expect retail sales growth to continue to hover around 0%-2% over the next few months.