Australia’s pre-Christmas spending has surged past the Australian Retailers Association’s original $66 billion prediction in early December to a record $74.5 billion, according to data by ARA in partnership Westpac DataX.
Food retailing saw the largest share in pre-Christmas sales of $27.62 billion, followed by household goods ($13.39b) and other retailing ($12.05b). All categories grew on last year, with both apparel and department stores reaping $7.17 billion and $4.8 billion respectively.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra said it is an unparalleled result after several years of disruption.
“This is, without a doubt, the biggest festive season spend on record – it is unprecedented,” Zahra said.
“It is remarkable that in this period of economic turbulence, traders have well and truly smashed it out of the ballpark as consumers revelled in ‘freedom’ spending.
“There are many elements driving this record spend,” he continued. “Australians are seeing shopping as an experience and a reward after such a challenging period. We also know that price increases continue to elevate these numbers, with many Australians also motivated to get in ahead of price rises and leverage savings during the sales events.”
Boxing Day sales also saw a rise from last year (up 15.3%) to $1.23 billion, despite the strong sales in the lead up to Christmas.
Department stores drove the greatest growth on Boxing Day – up 23.6% on last year – to reap $149.4 million in sales. Clothing, footwear and personal accessories saw the third-largest share of sales on the day of $217.59 million, behind food retailing ($264.52m) and household goods ($314.76m)
“Boxing Day has once again cemented its status as the Grand Final of Australia’s favourite sport: shopping,” Zahra added.
“The success shared by department stores in particular is truly outstanding, defying many predictions by commentators. It’s fantastic to also see the anticipated growth in clothing, footwear and personal accessory sales – another category that has experienced strong headwinds in recent years.
“These fabulous results really tie a bow on an extremely successful year for retail as we head into a period of greater uncertainty in 2023.”
Head of Westpac DataX Jade Clarke said spending remained strong despite the rising cost of living.
“We are delighted to support the Australian Retailers Association with a timely and deeper view into this critical revenue period for our retailers,” Clarke said.
“Westpac DataX has leveraged de-identified card-spend data to provide the ARA and its retailers access to important insights during this key trading time.
“The data shows that despite a year of increasing living costs, Australian retail sales have remained strong over the holiday period, improving on last year.”