• SYDNEY, AAP – Retail sales in November were up 7.1 per cent on the previous month, after statisticians increased their preliminary estimate by 0.1 per cent.

    Victorians were largely responsible for the sizeable improvement on October trade, evident in the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ improved report on Monday.

    Victoria’s retail sales grew by 22.4 per cent (previously estimated to be 21 per cent) after many shops re-opened in late October from months of onerous coronavirus restrictions.

    Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions across the country also helped trade.

    After Victoria, the next best state was Queensland, where sales rose 4.5 per cent.

    South Australia recorded a 0.2 per cent decline following a three-day lockdown in Adelaide due to a coronavirus cluster.

    Tasmania had a 3.4 per cent increase, the ACT had a 2.5 per cent rise, NSW 2.3 per cent, the Northern Territory 2.2 per cent and Western Australia 1.2 per cent.

    Australian retail sales for the month were 13.3 per cent more than the same month last year, rather than the ABS’s previous estimate of 13.2 per cent.

    While this might seem remarkable given virus restrictions on trade, the ABS retail sales survey does not include sectors hit hard by the pandemic such as travel and pubs and clubs.