Retail spending: Sign Aussies are tightening their belts

While the latest data from January shows a modest rise in spending, it follows a fall in December amid widespread belt tightening.

The full retail spending figures for January have been released and include figures on Australia’s online spending habits.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ retail trade report, released on February 28, showed bricks and mortar retail spending nationally was up 1.9 per cent in January – a flat result given drops in previous months, with similar trends online.

The extended report, released on Tuesday, shows a rise of 0.6 per cent in total online spending (online food and non-food spending combined) in January compared with December, seasonally adjusted.

The updated ABS data shows total online spending rose 0.6 per cent in January. Picture: Getty Images

Total online spending in December fell 4.7 per cent off the back of a 13.1 per cent jump in November due to Black Friday spending and people trying to get their Christmas shopping done early.

In dollar terms, that’s $3.83bn spent online in December, compared with $3.86bn in January, with interest rate anxieties yet to peak as the Reserve Bank board continued their Christmas break.

Non-food items made up $2.71bn of that December spend, increasing to $2.8bn in January.