ARA Survey Reveals Consumer Spending Intentions Before Christmas

Australian shoppers are expected to spend $63.9 billion this holiday season. Rising cost of living challengesaccording to new insights from the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).

Developed in collaboration with Roy Morgan and Salesforce, the study found that festive spending is likely to start earlier in Australia and New Zealand, with 33% of holiday season sales expected to occur in the first three weeks of November. increase.

ARA CEO Paul Zahra said the projections warrant consumer-spending businesses in the face of mounting cost pressures leading up to Christmas.

“Christmas is the most important time in the retail calendar, and given the financial pressures facing households right now, many businesses are nervous about the potential reduction in spending over the Christmas period. I know there are,” Zahra said.

“We will inevitably see a softening in sales given the lag associated with rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, but that doesn’t appear to happen until next year.”

He added that businesses should remain optimistic heading into Christmas this year, as Cyber ​​Weekend sales are “increasing in popularity” each year.

On a state basis, SA leads retail sales growth this year by 6.6%, followed by NT at 6.5% and Queensland at 4.6%.

New South Wales is expected to spend about $20 billion on pre-Christmas sales, up 3.1% from last year. Meanwhile, Victoria is forecast to spend her $16.5 billion, up 0.8%.

The forecast also suggests that 70% of all traffic and 60% of all orders will occur on mobile devices, and 25% of all holiday sales will occur during Cyber ​​Week.

This story was first published in our sister magazine inside retail