Australian retail sales rose 3.8% year-on-year in October 2024. It was a strong month for non-food retail up 5.1%, which is above long-term trends. It is uncommon for non-food to outperform, but the combination of good household income growth and a softer September has brought out shoppers. Pharmacy, cosmetics, recreational goods and online were the strongest growing categories. Our feedback on Black Friday sales suggests November will show solid growth too. We may see some weakness in December as promotional fatigue sets in.

Australian retail sales rose 0.9% in September 2024 year-on-year. This was a deceleration on the 4.0% growth in August. August benefited from Father’s Day timing and promotional activity, which took sales from September. Looking at the September quarter, retail sales were up 2.5% compared long-term trends of 4.9%. Pharmacy, recreational goods and furniture were the non-food categories in growth during September. We see consumers delaying purchases in anticipation of Black Friday deals which means a more subdued October as well.

Australian retail sales rose 4.0% in August 2024 year-on-year. This was an acceleration on the 2.6% growth in July with online outperforming at 12.0% growth. Dining-out slowed, but supermarkets were strong.  Afterpay Day, Father’s Day and better weather supported liquor, recreational goods and clothing spend. Pharmacy continues its strong sales growth. We expect sales growth to be softer in the next two months ahead of Black Friday promotions in November.

Australian retail sales rose 2.6% in July 2024 year-on-year. While overall sales trends remain weak, the standout was online, which was up 14.3% with strength in both food and non-food online. Amazon’s Prime Day has had spillover effects across the market. Hardware, Liquor and Takeaway Food were in decline in July. Pharmacy and furniture had good sales growth. We expect a gradual improvement in sales growth over the next six months led by non-food retail categories.

Australian retail sales rose 2.1% year-on-year in May 2024, which is the best underlying rate of growth since November 2023. The glass half-full would suggest we may be past the trough for retail. The glass half-empty is that the rate of growth is still very weak and indicative of per capita declines in retail volumes. We do think we are now past the trough in volumes, but we don’t expect a swift recovery in retail spending.

Australian retail sales only rose 0.3% for December 2023. If we average November and December, given the Black Friday pull-forward, growth was still a weak 1.1%. The additional detail for December highlights a consumer that is increasingly cautious. Café & restaurant sales were particularly weak, along with liquor and all household goods categories declined.

Wesfarmers reported FY23 group EBIT of $3,863 million, growth of 6%. The result showed some signs of slowdown in the second half where retail EBIT only rose 2%. We expect sales to slow from here given recent trends and weakness in discretionary income for consumers. The company will cut costs and the margin pressure should be modest, but it will still be challenging to grow retail earnings in FY24e. The WesCEF business could see a drop in EBIT of 17% on our estimates. The core business will suffer a larger drop, but lithium earnings will start from 2H24e onwards.