How much consumers spent during pre-Christmas trading.
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan Research official figures for Christmas spending in the pre-Christmas trading period for November 15 to December 25, 2015 have come in at $47 billion, an increase of 4.2% in comparison to Christmas 2014.
The ARA and Roy Morgan annual Christmas spend figures released in November predicted Aussies would spend $46.8 billion for a 3.6% increase. Online sales were also robust for the period with total spend on e-commerce pre-Christmas standing at $3.1 billion.
ARA executive director, Russell Zimmerman, said the figure is a fantastic result for the industry, with Christmas being retail’s biggest and busiest trading period.
“This data supports our early estimates of $46.8 billion in pre-Christmas sales, and we happy to say that our expectations were not only met, but were exceeded last Christmas,” Zimmerman said.
“While the vast majority of retailers received a year on year boost over Christmas, it’s important to note that there were some pockets, particularly in the smaller independent sector that our surveys show may have missed out on the spending joy.”
“The ARA and Roy Morgan Christmas trade predictions are the most accurate statistics available to predict the Christmas spending patterns of Australians, and we’re pleased to have been so close to the mark in our estimates yet again,” he said.
Overall, all but two states – Queensland and Western Australia – outperformed predictions, largely affected by a slowdown of the mining sector.
“It became clear about midway through the six week pre-Christmas period that there may be a slightly smaller increase in WA and QLD. Despite this though, both states maintained a small level of growth and neither stood still,” Zimmerman noted.
As predicted, Victorian pre-Christmas spending saw the highest growth in 2015, up 5.8%, followed by NSW and Tasmania, both with 4.8% growth.
“This is a stellar result for Tasmania, which has suffered with negligible growth at some points in 2015, but it seems that the economy is bouncing back and people prepared to spend in retail stores again,” he concluded.
2015 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by State
| State | 2015 pre-xmas
Spend |
Growth
(%) |
|
| NSW | $15.1 billion | 4.8% | |
| Victoria | $11.8 billion | 5.8% | |
| Queensland | $9.5 billion | 3.2% | |
| South Australia | $3 billion | 3.2% | |
| Western Australia | $5.3 billion | 1.7% | |
| Tasmania | $0.9 billion | 4.8% | |
| Northern Territory | $0.5 billion | 1% | |
| Australian Capital Territory | $0.8 billion | 3.8% | |
| NATIONAL | $47 billion | 4.2% | |
(ARA/ROY MORGAN)
2015 Pre-Christmas Sales Growth by Category
| Category | 2015 pre-xmas
spend |
Growth
(%) |
| Food | $19.1 billion | 3.2% |
| Household goods | $8.3 billion | 6.4% |
| Apparel | $3.6 billion | 5.3% |
| Department stores | $3 billion | 4.2% |
| Other | $6.4 billion | 4.8% |
| Hospitality | $6.5 billion | 3.2% |
| NATIONAL | $47 billion | 4.2% |