Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said in the few days before Christmas shoppers could avoid last minute Christmas crowds by looking to their local strip shops for gift ideas.
ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said with over three quarters (76%) of ARA Christmas Consumer Survey* respondents heading to department stores, exploring different shopping venues might be the key for the majority of shoppers who leave their purchases to the eleventh hour.
"Shopping in your neighbourhood is always a great way to support local jobs, but over the Christmas period there is the added bonus of bypassing the frustration that comes along with battling last minute Christmas crowds and queuing at registers.
"Almost 60% of respondents said knowing there was fewer queues would influence their choice of Christmas shopping venue but only 11 percent planned on buying their gifts from local shopping strips and stores that traditionally have smaller crowds than larger department type stores," Zimmerman said.
Where will the Christmas crowds be*?
- Over 50 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying at a suburban shopping centre
- Almost 15 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying in the CBD
- Almost 15 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying in a regional shopping centre
- 11 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying at a local shopping strip / stores
- 38 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying at traditional department stores
- 38 percent of Christmas shoppers plan to do most of their buying at discount department stores
- 16 percent of shoppers plan to make most of their Christmas purchases at smaller independent retailers
At this stage sales are on track to meet the projected $39.9 billion in retail sales this Christmas (NSW $13.1 billion, VIC $9.7 billion, QLD $8.2 billion, SA $2.7 billion, WA $4.2 billion, TAS $823 million, NT $401 million and ACT $746 million)
For over 100 years, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body in Australia's $240 billion retail sector which employs over 1.2 million people. As an incorporated employer body under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 and with a range of member services including business consulting, policy development, advocacy and education, the ARA promotes and protects over 5000 independent and national retailers throughout Australia.
Visit www.retail.org.auor call 1300 368 041.
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