According to the Retail Council’s Christmas survey, 40 per cent of shoppers wait until December to do most of their Christmas shopping.
The most common reasons for waiting until later to shop is they are looking for gift inspiration, waiting for family members or friends to share a wish list or are too busy to shop.
“Retail activity is expected to build on last week’s performance in the next seven days and will be the busiest of the period for online shopping” Retail Council CEO Anna McPhee said.
“This week will be a click frenzy with more than $1.5 billion forecast to be spent online,” said Ms McPhee.
Two-thirds of shoppers expect to do some gift shopping online in the 30 days to Christmas.
“Heightened consumer activity means extra retail jobs have been added to service increased consumer demand. On average the sector employs an additional 30,000 staff in November and December each year, as well as providing extra hours to existing retail workers,” Ms McPhee said.
The Retail Council Christmas Spending Index, forecasting retail spending for the 30 days to Christmas, indicates $35 billion is expected to be spent nationally – slightly stronger than the same period last year. Online shopping is forecast to make up 16 per cent of total sales.