Retailers are on track to take $16.8 billion between Boxing Day and January 15, according to figures by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan Research.
Victoria will see the lion’s share of the post-Christmas shopping growth, up 5.6 per cent to $4.2 billion across the 21-day period tracked by ARA and Roy Morgan, followed by NSW at 3.8 per cent growth and $5.3 billion.
Around $1 billion is set to be spent in department stores before January 15, second only in growth to the ‘other’ category, expected to grow by 6.1 per cent to $2.3 billion.
“While the annual Christmas sales period officially kicked on Boxing Day, we’ve seen shoppers continue their spending frenzy right throughout the period and into the New Year,” said ARA executive director, Russell Zimmerman.
“Department stores have also had particularly strong foot traffic, with our figures anticipating a 4.7 percent increase for the category compared to last year.”
Consumers have embraced the annual post-Christmas and January sales this year says Zimmerman, taking the opportunity to stock up on bargains not normally seen at other times of the year. “While initially on December 26 we saw bigger ticket items walking off the shelves, now the focus has swapped to soft goods such as apparel and footwear, while household items have also been popular.”
Want more Inside Retail? Subscribe to Inside Retail Weekly now and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.
