Australian retail turnover rose 0.4 percent in August 2013, seasonally adjusted, following a rise of 0.1 percent in July 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade.
The largest contributor to the rise in August 2013 was department stores (6.4 percent) followed by cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.4 percent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 percent) and food retailing (0.1 percent).
ABS said these rises were partially offset by falls in household goods retailing (-0.6 percent) and other retailing (-0.2 percent).
Over the longer term, the largest contributor to the strength is food retailing (up 0.1 percent in trend terms).
The state which was the largest contributor to the rise was Victoria (0.6 per cent) followed by New South Wales (0.4 per cent), Western Australia (0.7 per cent), Queensland (0.2 per cent), the Northern Territory (1.3 per cent) and Tasmania (0.3 per cent). These rises were partially offset by falls in South Australia (-0.2 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.8 per cent). Over the longer term, South Australia is the largest contributor to the strength (up 0.6 per cent in trend terms).