According to recent figures by the Australian National Retail Association (ANRA), Australians will spend approximately $29.6 billion on Christmas this year – and as much as $1 billion a day in the final shopping rush before Christmas.
“We’re certainly in the space of Australians, overall, spending well over a billion dollars a day over the weekend,” National Retailers Association (NRA) Chief Executive Trevor Evans said.
And while spending has picked up on homewares, furniture, electronics and books over the past few weeks, as the big day lurches nearer, ANRA says most people are now focusing on Christmas celebrations, spending more on food and alcohol than presents.
For those who haven’t managed to get their Christmas gift buying finished as yet, ANRA estimates last minute shoppers will spend $61 million online on Monday – mostly on gift vouchers.
According to ANRA Chief Executive Margy Osmond, gift vouchers have become increasingly popular over the past three years,
“People like to get the gift cards because they can use them in the post-Christmas sales and get an extra bargain,” she said.
Boxing Day Sales
NRA’s Trevor Evans expects Boxing Day sales to be big this year – despite heavy discounting in the lead up to Christmas.
“The fact that they’re [retailers] doing that before Christmas indicates that the sales are going to be very genuine and very big indeed come Boxing Day when it comes down to a clearance of stock situation,” Evans said.
Osmond also pointed to the power of the internet in the popularity of the Boxing Day sales, with more and more people researching the sales online before they shop on Boxing Day.
“This is the first Christmas where retailers are engaging in a much more personalised way with shoppers in terms of the sale activity,” Osmond said. “We’ll see an extra sophistication of that into the Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales.”
100-hour Shopping Spree
Over in the US, retailers are trying to boost their pre-Christmas sales with some stores staying open for 100 hours in the lead up to the big day.
Kmart and department stores Kohl’s and Macy’s will be open for five days straight, from Friday morning all the way through until the evening of Christmas Eve, while Toys R Us will stay open for 87 hours, from Saturday morning until December 24.
In a final attempt to enhance their pre-Christmas profits, many US-based stores are choosing to stay open longer to tempt consumers who continue to deal with a recovering economy, stagnant wages and other finance-related issues.
According to analytics firm ShopperTrak, sales at US stores increased less than expected at just 2% to US$176.7 billion from November 1 to December 15.
This had led many retailers to do anything possible to get consumers through their doors before Christmas.
“It’s make or break for the retailers,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of consumer research company America’s Research Group. “They have to make up for lost ground.”
Closer to home, Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s west is trying something similar, with its 32-hour sale running from Monday morning all the way through until 5pm Christmas Eve. Highpoint expects to see 200,000 shoppers during its marathon sales event.
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