Three sleeps to 30 June. Fresh Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Thursday shows the May retail print held at $39.67 billion, up 5.8 per cent year on year, with growth recorded across every single category and every state and territory. The headline read sits in awkward contrast to the household mood: ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has lifted 3.5 points to 84.0 (a three-month high), yet Westpac-Melbourne Institute reports the share of Australians expecting house prices to rise next year collapsed from 66 to 52 per cent in a single month. The picture this final EOFY weekend is split. The economy is spending, but the household is bracing. The last 72 hours before midnight Tuesday is where the work-related deduction window closes and the deepest verified discounts of the cycle land.
The May Retail Print: $39.67 Billion, Growth In Every Category And Every State
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the May 2026 retail trade indicator on Thursday 25 June. Total spending hit $39.67 billion, up 5.8 per cent on May 2025 and well above the 4.0 per cent headline CPI print released the day before. The Australian Retail Council headlined the read as resilient. CEO Fleur Brown, writing in the council’s media note, said Australian shoppers “continued to spend despite subdued confidence and ongoing cost-of-living pressures”. Every single retail category recorded year-on-year growth: food retailing $15.5 billion (up 4.2 per cent), household goods $6.6 billion (up 6.4 per cent), clothing, footwear and personal accessories $3.1 billion (up 6.9 per cent), department stores and large online retailers $1.7 billion (up 4.9 per cent), cafes, restaurants and takeaway food $5.9 billion (up 7.2 per cent), and other retailing $7 billion (up 7.4 per cent).
State and territory growth was wider than usual. Northern Territory led at plus 8.1 per cent, Western Australia at plus 7.3 per cent, Queensland at plus 6.4 per cent. New South Wales lagged at plus 5.3 per cent and Victoria at plus 5.1 per cent, the two largest retail markets pulling the national average down. For Australian shoppers the read is direct. The categories where households kept spending hardest (cafes and takeaway, services and other discretionary) are the ones now being cleared at the deepest EOFY markdowns. The retailers who already secured the 5.8 per cent growth do not need to clear stock at any price (margin holders win); the laggards are running the 70 to 80 per cent banners (deal hunters win). Both edges of the market are sharp this weekend.
Household Spending $80.6 Billion, Up 1.3 Per Cent Month On Month: Where The Money Actually Went
The ABS also released its Monthly Household Spending Indicator on 25 June, which tracks aggregated bank card transactions plus supermarket and new vehicle sales (a broader view than the retail trade headline). Total household spending hit $80,635.5 million in May, up 1.3 per cent month on month and 5.5 per cent year on year on a seasonally adjusted basis (ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator, 25 June 2026). The trend measure rose 0.3 per cent. Translation: the spending that the retail trade print captures is being topped up by services, hospitality and motor vehicle purchases the retail trade survey does not cover. The household is not, in aggregate, going dark. The household is rotating between categories.
For the shopper this Saturday the implication is the inverse of doom and gloom. Pent-up demand in categories like cafes (plus 7.2 per cent), household goods (plus 6.4 per cent) and clothing (plus 6.9 per cent) means retailers in those categories have inventory turning fast, and the EOFY clearance window through Tuesday midnight is the final lever to convert the rest. Restaurant gift cards, kitchen appliance upgrades, the winter coat that outlasts the next three seasons. These are the categories where the markdown will compound the hardest because the household has already proven it wants to buy. The 60 to 80 per cent EOFY signs landing on the home page of It’s On Sale right now are aimed exactly at this rotation.
Confidence Up 3.5 Points To 84.0, But Mortgage Holders Are Still Going Backwards
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index rose 3.5 points to 84.0 in the week to 22 June, a three-month high (ANZ Newsroom, 23 June 2026). Four of the five subindices improved after the Reserve Bank held the cash rate at 4.35 per cent on 16 June, including the buying intentions read for major household items which is now up six weeks in a row. ANZ economist Sophia Angala, in the ANZ media note, said that confidence “among renters and outright owners is firmer, while mortgage holders remain under cash flow pressure”. The headline is uneven good news. Buying intent for the household-goods category is rising; the cohort with the deepest debt service is the only one whose confidence is still going backwards.
The asset side of the household balance sheet is also turning. Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment for June 2026 shows the share of Australians (with a view) expecting house prices to rise over the next year fell to 52 per cent, down from 66 per cent in May. That is the steepest single-month drop in price optimism in the current cycle. Combine the rising buying intentions on goods with the falling price expectations on housing and the household is rebalancing: less belief in property appreciation, more willingness to spend on what compounds today. EOFY 2026 lands exactly on this pivot. The retailer who cleared 5.8 per cent year-on-year growth in May is now competing for the household’s marginal Saturday dollar, and the only lever left in the last 72 hours is the headline markdown.
ACCC Tightens The Online Marketplace Net, Amazon On The List
The ACCC announced an expansion of the Australian Product Safety Pledge on 21 June, with Amazon, eBay, Kogan and Fruugo signing the strengthened version that lifts the bar on cross-border product safety enforcement (ACCC media release, 21 June 2026). In the 2024-25 reporting period the pledge signatories removed 31,000 plus unsafe listings, and the regulator’s 2026-27 product safety priorities now sharpen the focus on Lithium-ion battery devices, baby self-feeding products (permanent ban in force from 26 May 2026) and high-powered magnetic toys (KWM Pulse, 22 June 2026). For Australian shoppers the read is simple. A $200 product on a cross-border marketplace can be recalled and pulled within hours; the same $200 spent at an Australian-owned, locally fulfilled store carries the full Australian Consumer Law guarantee, with no enforcement gap and no shipping black hole. Every retailer featured on It’s On Sale is Australian-owned with local fulfilment.
Five Fresh Australian Stores For The Last EOFY Weekend
Five stores. Five categories. The deepest headline discounts surfaced from a sweep of every retailer on It’s On Sale, audited at dawn.
Discount
ShowpoWomens FashionUp to 80 per cent off sitewide at Showpo’s End of Financial Year sale: dresses, going-out tops, denim, knitwear, swim, accessories and resortwear from the Sydney-founded Australian-owned women’s brand, with free standard shipping over $50, Afterpay across the collection and 30 day returns through 30 June.80%OFF2
UGG ExpressFootwearUp to 80 per cent off UGG Express’s Australian clearance: classic short, mini and tall ugg boots, slippers, scuffs and kids ranges from the Australian-owned Sydney label with 100 per cent Australian sheepskin, free shipping over $99 and free 30 day returns nationwide.80%OFF3
Costume BoxCostumesUp to 75 per cent off Costume Box’s clearance: kids and adults book week, dress-ups, accessories, wigs, makeup and themed party kits from the Brisbane-founded Australian-owned costume specialist, with free Brisbane click and collect, $9.95 flat-rate shipping and same-day dispatch on orders before noon.75%OFF4
EckersleysArt & CraftUp to 70 per cent off Eckersleys Art and Craft’s clearance: paints, brushes, canvases, watercolour pads, gouache, modelling clay, easels and craft kits from the family-owned Australian art retailer founded in Melbourne in 1888, with click-and-collect from 13 stores nationwide.70%OFF5
Original Mattress FactoryBedsUp to 60 per cent off Original Mattress Factory’s EOFY mattress sale: queen, king, double and single Cloud 9 mattresses, mattress toppers and pillows from the Sydney-based Australian-owned manufacturer that builds every mattress on-site, with free metro delivery and 100 night sleep trial through 30 June.60%OFF% discounts shown are indicative across each store’s sale range. Individual product savings vary.
Other Deals Worth A Look
Beyond the Top 5, six other Australian-owned stores cleared the 60 per cent EOFY threshold this morning and are worth a scan before Tuesday. Princess Polly is at up to 80 per cent off the women’s clearance from the Sydney-founded brand. Elite Supplements is at up to 80 per cent off whey, pre-workout and recovery from the Brisbane specialist. Rebel Sport is at up to 85 per cent off Fangear clearance from Australia’s largest sport retailer. Kick Push Skate is at up to 82 per cent off decks, trucks and complete skateboards. Betts is at up to 70 per cent off the women’s footwear clearance from the Adelaide-founded shoe retailer. Decjuba is at up to 70 per cent off the women’s clearance from the Melbourne label. None are featured in the Top 5 today but each clears the 60 per cent threshold and runs through Tuesday midnight.
Our Take
The Saturday read for the EOFY weekend is unusually rich. Retail spending is up 5.8 per cent and household spending is up 5.5 per cent in real categories that matter (cafes, household goods, clothing, footwear). Consumer confidence has just notched a three-month high. The Reserve Bank is on hold. Headline CPI is easing. House price expectations are softening, which makes the discretionary spend on goods feel less risky than it did 90 days ago. And the EOFY work-deduction window closes at midnight on Tuesday. Layered together, the macro signal is that the household budget has more permission to spend on the right items today than it has had at any point in 2026. The discipline is choosing items that compound (a quality winter boot worn for five seasons, a mattress that outlasts the next mortgage refinance) rather than items that depreciate.
The shoppable side of It’s On Sale is built exactly for this read. We track 35,000 Australian stores and 45,000 live sale products, every retailer Australian-owned and locally fulfilled, every promotion audited daily. Today’s Sales shows every store currently running a discount in one place. Our AI search reads the way real shoppers ask (try “ugg boots size 8” or “queen mattress under 1500”). You will never find Temu, Shein, AliExpress or any offshore marketplace dressed up as a local brand here. Three sleeps until the 30 June cutoff. Browse Today’s Sales before the markdown window closes.