Aussie shoppers are continuing to spend up a storm in the post-Christmas sales.
Retailers around the country on track to take $16.8 billion from Boxing Day until January 15, according to figures by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan Research.
ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman said consumers have embraced the annual post-Christmas and January sales this year.
“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,” Zimmerman said.
“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.
“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,” he said.
Around $1 billion is set to be spent in department stores before January 15, second only in growth to the ‘other’ category, with will grow by 6.1 percent to $2.3 billion.
Food spending, which was boosted last week by shoppers stocking up on food and beverages for New Year’s Eve parties and holiday barbeques is on target to meet an expected $6.8 billion in purchases.
Victoria will see the lion’s share of the post-Christmas shopping growth, up 5.6 percent to $4.2 billion across the 21-day period tracked by ARA and Roy Morgan, followed by NSW at 3.8 percent growth and $5.3 billion.
“It’s great to see shoppers out in force at retail stores, in what is typically the busiest spending period of the year,” Zimmerman said.
