New research from Shopfully suggests Australians are using digital tools to plan their festive shopping but still prefer to complete the purchase in-store.
The survey conducted last month found three in five respondents (60%) prefer to buy holiday gifts in-store, while one-third (33%) shop online and in-store equally. Only 7% prefer to buy online.
In other words, says Shopfully, digital is shaping the festive shopping trip, but the store is still where most Australians want to finish it.
That digital planning shows up in how Australians find festive inspiration. Digital catalogues and leaflet platforms were the most common source of deals and gift ideas (34%), ahead of researching on brand or retailer websites, apps or marketplaces (29%), printed leaflets or catalogues (28%) and browsing in-store (24%). Social media was cited by 12%.
Shopfully Australia Country Manager Brendan Straw says shoppers are doing their homework digitally, then heading to the store to buy.
“For retailers, the festive season is won or lost in that handover,” he says. “If your offer isn’t visible while shoppers are planning, it’s much harder to earn a place in the trolley when they walk through the door.”
Black Friday a planning moment
Black Friday is also shaping when Australians start their Christmas shopping. One-third of Australians surveyed (33%) described themselves as ‘deal hunters’ who treat Black Friday as their starting point for Christmas shopping, the largest of the shopper types in the survey.
By comparison, 23% are ‘planners’ who begin shopping by October and 9% are last-minute shoppers who rarely start before mid-December.
Many are waiting for those sales, too. Of those who answered, 38% said they had delayed buying food and beverages in the hope of a festive sale, followed by clothing, shoes and accessories (31%), children’s products and toys (26%) and home goods (26%).
Budgets suggest Christmas remains the bigger spend overall. Of those surveyed, 44% plan to spend $300 or more on Christmas overall, including 26% planning to spend more than $500, compared with 23% who plan to spend $300 or more on Black Friday. A further 26% have no fixed Christmas budget.
AI a deal finder
While AI is entering the festive shopping journey, Shopfully says it’s mostly being used to hunt for value.
More than a quarter of respondents (28%) are using or considering AI tools to compare prices and find the best deals, compared with 8% for personalised gift ideas.
At the same time, 43% said they prefer to handle holiday shopping tasks themselves.
