The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan Research official figures are in.
The 2015 Christmas trading period saw $47 billion in spending, up 4.2% on the previous year.
The data tracked purchases from November 15 to December 25.
The ARA and Roy Morgan predicted Aussies would spend $46.8 billion, with consumers managing to outspend these estimates by $200 million.
ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman said the figure is a mixed result for the broader industry.
"While the vast majority of retailers received a year on year boost over Christmas, it’s important to note that there were some pockets, particularly in the smaller independent sector that our surveys show may have missed out on the spending joy."
Overall, all but two states – Queensland and Western Australia – outperformed our predictions.
Both of these states have been affected by a slowdown of the mining sector.
As predicted, Victorian pre-Christmas spending saw the highest growth in 2015, up 5.8 percent, followed by NSW and Tasmania, both with 4.8 percent growth.
“This is a stellar result for Tasmania, which has suffered with negligible growth at some points in 2015, but it seems that the economy is bouncing back and people prepared to spend in retail stores again,” Zimmerman said.
Category-wise, household goods sales took the lead in the growth stakes, rising 6.3 percent on pre-Christmas 2014, followed by apparel with 5.3 percent.
Online was also robust for the period with total spend on e-commerce pre-Christmas standing at $3.1 billion.
ARA ROY MORGAN PRE-CHRISTMAS 2015 ACTUAL SALES
November 15 - December 24, 2015
2015 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by State
|
State |
2015 pre-xmas Spend |
Growth (%) |
|
|
NSW |
$15.1 billion |
4.8% |
|
|
Victoria |
$11.8 billion |
5.8% |
|
|
Queensland |
$9.5 billion |
3.2% |
|
|
South Australia |
$3 billion |
3.2% |
|
|
Western Australia |
$5.3 billion |
1.7% |
|
|
Tasmania |
$0.9 billion |
4.8% |
|
|
Northern Territory |
$0.5 billion |
1% |
|
|
Australian Capital Territory |
$0.8 billion |
3.8% |
|
|
NATIONAL |
$47 billion |
4.2% |
|
(ARA/ROY MORGAN)
2015 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by Category
|
Category |
2015 pre-xmas spend |
Growth (%) |
|
Food |
$19.1 billion |
3.2% |
|
Household goods |
$8.3 billion |
6.4% |
|
Apparel |
$3.6 billion |
5.3% |
|
Department stores |
$3 billion |
4.2% |
|
Other |
$6.4 billion |
4.8% |
|
Hospitality |
$6.5 billion |
3.2% |
|
NATIONAL |
$47 billion |
4.2% |