The largest increase was in department stores, which rose by 8.8 per cent, followed by clothing, footwear, and personal accessories retailing at 6.5 per cent. Other retailing saw a rise of 2.9 per cent, and household goods retailing increased by 1.1 per cent.

All states and territories in Australia also experienced a rise in retail turnover, reversing last month's declines across the country, as per ABS.

Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics, said: “The rebound in retail turnover in January followed a substantial fall of 4 per cent in December and a large rise of 1.7 per cent in November.

“Looking through this volatility shows that turnover is at a similar level to September 2022, and on average, growth has been flat over the past few months.

“November, December, and January are the most seasonal months of the year, with retail activity heavily affected by the Christmas period and January holidays. This has been heightened by an increase in the popularity of Black Friday sales and growing cost of living pressures combining to drive a change in usual consumer spending patterns.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)