Retail sales fell 0.5 per cent in December, seasonally adjusted, after a 1 per cent increase in November, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Ben James, ABS’s director of quarterly economy wide surveys, attributed this to the rise of Black Friday sales, which have drawn holiday shopping forward into November, and the bushfires and associated smoke haze, which kept people away from shops and cafes, particularly in New South Wales.

Sales fell at department stores (-2.8 per cent), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (-0.9 per cent), clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailer (-1.5 per cent), food retailing (-0.3 per cent) and household goods retailing (-0.3 per cent) in December. This was partially offset by a 0.2 per cent rise in other retailing, which includes books and newspapers, sport and camping equipment, toys and games and pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Sales were down across the board in New South Wales (-1.2 per cent), Queensland (-0.5 per cent), South Australia (-1.3 per cent), the Northern Territory (-0.4 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (-0.1 per cent), while Victoria and Western Australia were unchanged. Tasmania saw a 1.1 per cent increase in seasonally adjusted terms in December 2019.

Dominique Lamb, CEO of the National Retail Association, said the figures reflect the new normal for Australian retailers.

“The shopping behaviour of Australian consumers is always changing, and this is best exemplified by the clear shift we’ve seen when it comes to making Christmas purchases,” she said.

“The important takeout for retailers is to be aware of this shift and understand it is likely to only become more pronounced in future years. Businesses should look to tailor their Christmas strategies to the last weekend of November, which is bookended by Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

The one bright spot, according to Lamb, was the 0.5 per cent increase in quarterly retail sales, up from a fall of -0.1 per cent in the September quarter.

In trend terms, retail sales rose 2.8 per cent in December 2019 compared with December 2018. This was slower than the 13.3 per cent increase in online retail sales in the month.