The next seven days of shopping are set to be the biggest of the year, according to the Australian National Retailers Association’s (ANRA) weekly Christmas spending predictions.In total, ANRA CEO Anna McPhee stated more than $8.3 billion is expected to be spent nationally in the week ahead.
Retail sales are expected to be up by around 10 per cent compared to last week, with shoppers to spend about $750 million more this week.
“Despite consumer confidence readings suggesting a cautious community, more people have returned to retail in the last 12 months and delivered growth to the sector and the economy more broadly,” McPhee commented.
“This incremental growth will assist the sector in contributing a little more than 4 per cent to Australia’s GDP this year.”
McPhee noted many retailers will be offering extended trading hours over the next 10 days to meet heightened demand.
“The extension of trading hours in the lead-up to Christmas has been particularly successful in previous years and highlights how consumer expectations are changing,” she commented. “Consumers want to be able to shop at times that are convenient.”
Meanwhile, ANRA’s survey of Christmas shoppers shows twice as many men than women expect to do most of their Christmas shopping between now and Christmas.
Just under one in four men admit they’ll probably do most of their shopping quite close to Christmas.
“Our survey showed women take a much more structured approach to Christmas shopping, with one in four shopping throughout the year compared to just 16 per cent of men,” McPhee commented.
“Women are also around twice as likely to buy fun things like toys (15 per cent vs 8 per cent) and more so experiences (6 per cent vs 2 per cent).
“Christmas shoppers told us they will be shopping primarily for immediate family (81 per cent). While 18 per cent admitted to buying a gift for themselves and 15 per cent said a gift for the family pet was also on the Christmas to-do list.”
