Father’s Day Slump Marks a Tough September for Australian Retail
Monthly KRI Summary
Discover key insights in the latest Australian Kepler Retail Market Index for September 2025.
Comparison Period: The following insights are based on comparing the five-week retail month of September this year (25th August – 28th September 2025) to the same period last year (26th August – 29th September 2024).
Foot Traffic Trends:
- Passer-by traffic rose 2.0% YoY in September, above the 3-month average of +1.6%.
- In-store traffic declined 5.8% YoY in September, well below the 3-month average of –2.9%.
- In-store traffic declined 2.5% YoY across the two-week period leading into Father’s Day (25 August to 7 September 2025 vs. 19 August to 1 September 2024).
Sales Conversion Performance:
- Sales conversion declined 9.9% YoY in September, a rapid change from the +2.5% recorded in August. As a result, transactions were down 15.1% YoY in September.
- Transactions declined 12.6% YoY across the two-week period leading into Father’s Day (25 August to 7 September 2025 vs. 19 August to 1 September 2024) driven by a 10.4% decline in sales conversion.
Average Transaction Values (ATVs):
- Average Transaction Values (ATVs) grew strongly, up 10.8% YoY in September, well above the 3-month average of +5.8%.
Sales Performance:
- Sales declined 5.9% YoY in September, well below the 3-month average decline of 0.9%.
- Sales declined 4.9% YoY across the two-week period leading into Father’s Day (25 August to 7 September 2025 vs. 19 August to 1 September 2024), as a 7.5% increase in ATVs helped to offset the 12.6% decline in transactions.
- September was only the second month of calendar year 2025 to record year-on-year sales decline (April was –0.5%).
About Kepler’s Retail Market Index
- Kepler’s Retail Market Index provides the most insightful and most timely view of retail industry performance across both Australia and New Zealand
- The index is based on anonymised data from Kepler’s Retail Foot Traffic Solution customers, primarily non-food specialty retailers
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