Official data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today shows retail turnover fell 2.7% in the month of December, but at the same time ASX retail share prices soared.
And they continued their upward trajectory in January, too.
Let's review the ABS data and the price performance of ASX retail shares over the past two months.
ABS reports 'large fall in retail turnover' last month
In December, seasonally adjusted retail trade fell by 2.7%. This was better than the 4% fall expected by CBA analysts.
The ABS said Australians are changing the way they shop, with the Black Friday sales in November becoming much more popular.
This is impacting how much consumers are spending at the post-Christmas sales in December and January.
Retail turnover lifted by 1.6% in November after a fall of 0.2% in October.
Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics, said:
The large fall in retail turnover in December was caused by a fall in discretionary spending. Consumers brought forward some of their usual December spending to November to take advantage of Black Friday sales.
This shift in spending from December to November reflects the growing popularity of Black Friday sales and the impact of cost-of-living pressures, with consumers seeking out bargains and taking advantage of discounts in November.
In trend terms, Dorber said retail turnover rose by 0.1% in December, adding:
This shows that underlying retail spending remains subdued when we look through the volatile movements over recent months in the lead up to Christmas.
Retailers told us that trading conditions were slow in early December following the success of Black Friday before picking up again in the lead up to Christmas and Boxing Day sales where discounting activity returned.
But ASX retail shares kept climbing in December
The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (ASX: XDJ) lifted 6.3% over the month of December.
At the same time, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) rose by 7.3% during a strong Santa Rally.
Here is a snapshot of how ASX retail shares performed in December:
- The Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV) share price increased by 27.5%
- The Universal Store Holdings Ltd (ASX: UNI) share price rose by 24.3%
- The Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR) share price lifted by 15.4%
- The Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) share price rose by 14.5%
- The Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV) share price advanced by 13%
- The Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK) share price rose by 12.1%
- The JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) share price rose by 10.9%
- The Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1) share price increased by 7.2%
- The Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) share price rose by 6.9%
And look what they did in January…
Only two of these ASX retail shares lost value this month after their December gains.
Meantime, the Consumer Discretionary Index is up 1.96% in January while the All Ords is up 0.17%.
