Hungry consumers to spend $30bn this Christmas, new figures show.Australians are expected to spend $1,280 each, on average, according to projections from Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) Christmas Retail Index.
This week alone, shoppers will start to get serious about their Christmas shopping, spending $5.8 billion instore and online – with $3.3bn to be spent in Australian bricks and mortar stores. $29.6bn is to be spent in total.
The bulk of online shopping will be done in the coming weeks to ensure pre-Christmas delivery.
About $1.4 billion will be spent on overseas websites this week – greater than the $970 million set to be spent with local retailers.
According to the Christmas Retail Index, consumers will spend more this year with overseas online retailers – $2.6 billion this year up from $2.2bn in 2012.
This week, New South Wales shoppers look set to be the biggest spenders with $1.8bn, followed by Victorians on $1.5bn and Queenslanders who are expected to spend just under $1.2bn.
ANRA CEO Margy Osmond said the surge in spending will be a Christmas bonus for retailers who are hoping retail trade figures will continue their momentum after recording five months of gains.
“When we looked at the demographics of consumers expected to hit the shops in the coming weeks. There were no surprises, the figures showed 53 per cent of women will do most of their Christmas shopping between 13 November and 11 December. While one in three men said they would do most of their shopping between 14 December and Christmas Eve.
“The retail figures for October will be released next week giving the sector a feel for what to expect for the last few weeks of the year and we are hoping to see the results of warm Spring weather and those Spring racing splurges reflected in these figures.”
