Deloitte released the 15th edition of its Retail Report in late August. It found 70 per cent of Australian consumers will pay full price to get the exact product they want.
The same survey of 150 retail executives and 1,000 consumers found 32 per cent plan to switch to cheaper products this holiday season. Those figures describe one shopper rather than two. She trades down on the ordinary and holds firm on the specific.
Value seeking is splitting the customer
Cost-of-living pressure is changing how Australians shop rather than how much they spend. Deloitte found 77 per cent have altered their behaviour. Within that group, 34 per cent expect to spend less and 11 per cent plan to delay purchases.
Another 26 per cent expect to buy more goods and services than last year. That gap sits inside a single market.
"Australians are still finding ways to take part in the holiday season, but they are doing it with a much sharper eye on value," Deloitte consumer products and retail partner Damien Cork said.
Why a set prices differently to a separate
A two-piece set is a top and bottom designed and merchandised as a pairing, with each garment also carried as a separate. The format answers a specificity problem rather than a price one.
The commercial appeal for a buyer is that matching sets deliver two positions in the assortment from one design decision. The top and the bottom each hold a place in their own category. The pairing does not need to earn its floor space twice.
Sportsgirl runs the format this way through its own design studio. The brand is part of The Sussan Group, which holds B Corp certification through Retail Holdings Pty Limited.
Fabrication carries the range where silhouette used to
Sets survive trend cycles because the category is defined by a relationship between two garments rather than a shape. A relaxed linen pairing and a tailored crepe pairing read as one category to the customer and two products to the buyer. The cut and the weight move while the merchandising language stays put.
A signature silhouette dates on its own timetable and takes the category with it. A pairing logic survives the same change, because the customer recognises the format ahead of the shape.
Offshore marketplaces are chasing the same customer
Deloitte estimates offshore marketplaces sold almost $12 billion into Australia during 2025, a rise of 20 per cent. The forecast for 2026 is $18 billion.
Those platforms compete hardest on the ordinary purchase, where price settles the decision. A range designed as a pairing is harder to substitute, because the customer is buying the relationship between the pieces rather than a single garment.
Flat consumption changes what buyers should test
Deloitte Access Economics forecasts household consumption growth slowing from 2.3 per cent in 2025–26 to 1.3 per cent in 2026–27. Per-capita consumption is effectively flat.
Retailer confidence has softened rather than collapsed. Deloitte found 75 per cent expect holiday sales growth and 71 per cent anticipate margin growth, with both readings down on last year.
That combination puts pressure on which categories earn a test. A format that sells two units on one decision and resists substitution has a stronger claim on range space than a single hero piece.
What the format is worth going into peak
The commercial case for sets in this market is a margin case rather than a volume case. They reach the 70 per cent who pay full price for the right product rather than the 32 per cent hunting a cheaper substitute. That is a different buy to a promotional one.
Design control is what separates a repeatable set programme from a one-season trend buy, and Sportsgirl has designed its own clothing in Melbourne since 1948. The test for next year's assortment is fabrication depth inside the category rather than a single hero pairing.
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