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Bookkeeping for clothing retailers

Clothing stores buy each season's range well ahead on supplier terms, then sell it in store, online and through end-of-season markdowns, with returns and exchanges along the way. We look after day-to-day bookkeeping for clothing retailers across Australia.

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Businesses in Clothing Retailing (ANZSIC class 4251)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
14,642 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
8,352 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
4,276 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC class Clothing Retailing, which covers clothing sold through physical stores, including stores that also sell online. Clothing businesses that sell only online, without a store, are counted in the non-store retailing class, so they are not in these counts.

  1. New South Wales5,078 businesses
  2. Victoria4,681 businesses
  3. Queensland2,624 businesses
  4. Western Australia1,117 businesses
  5. South Australia675 businesses
  6. Tasmania198 businesses
  7. Australian Capital Territory138 businesses
  8. Northern Territory107 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing8,352 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees4,276 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees1,608 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees321 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees85 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

What we look after

What the books involve

  • Seasonal buying: orders placed with labels and wholesalers ahead of each season entered as bills when the stock arrives, with deposits paid on indent orders matched against the final invoice.
  • Returns and exchanges: refunds and store credit for exchanged garments recorded against the original sale, so the sales in the monthly reports reflect what customers kept.
  • Shop and online sales: point of sale takings and online store payouts reconciled separately, with gateway fees and buy now, pay later charges recorded as costs of selling.
  • Faulty stock: credit notes from labels and wholesalers for faulty or short-supplied garments matched against their accounts before the next payment goes out.
  • Shop costs: rent and outgoings, visual merchandising, shopping bags and swing tags, and point of sale and website subscriptions entered and coded each month.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 2: Businesses by main state by industry class by employment size ranges (8165DC02.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

Talk to us about your books

Tell us how your business runs and what you need from your books, and we will suggest a bookkeeping plan that fits.

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