Aussie retailers happy with Boxing Day sales - ARA

BOXING DAY proved to be another great day for retailers this year with Australians flooding shopping centres and department stores across the country. Boxing Day sales are set to reach $2.3 billion as predicted by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), with consumers lining up outside stores to take advantage of some of the best retail deals of the year.

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said retailers were happy with the out pour of consumers across the country, and were thankful to shoppers who waited patiently in ques due to the uplift in foot traffic across the nation.

“Every year Boxing Day crowds seem to expand, and this year’s crowd certainly did not disappoint,” Mr Zimmerman said.

“We predicted retailers would trade over $2.3 billion this Boxing Day, and judging by the increase of people in stores, I think we may have hit the mark.”

This Boxing Day, Myer launched their biggest Stocktake Sale, and expected to have 1.6 million customers flood through their doors. While department stores traded well, shopping centers like Melbourne Central expected to see over 230,000 people pass through the centre yesterday to take advantage of end-of-year sales.

Online retailers have also seen an increase in consumer activity during this last 24 hours due to Australians feeling more confident in purchasing products on mobile devices.

‘Boxing Day is only the start of the sale period, and we anticipate this shopping spree to continue for the next two or three weeks,” Mr Zimmerman said.

The ARA and Roy Morgan Research expect shoppers to spend $17.2 billion from December 26 to January 15 2017. The category tipped to enjoy the biggest increase in year on year sales in the next three weeks will be ‘hospitality’ at 6.8% growth, which is reflective of people enjoying their holidays and spending money at cafes and bars.

Following hospitality, other categories expected to show a big increase over the next three weeks in year on year sales will be the ‘other’ category at 3.2% growth, and ‘apparel’ at a 3% increase.

On a state basis, NSW will be the big winner, with year on year growth of 3.6% growth for the period encompassing 26 December 2016 to 15 January 2017.

ARA ROY MORGAN POST-CHRISTMAS 2016/17 SALES PREDICTIONS

December 26, 2016 – January 15, 2017

Boxing Day 2016 sales

State	2016 Boxing Day Sales
New South Wales	$766,012,500
Victoria	$744,873,445
Queensland	$402,040,000
South Australia	$129,490,000
Western Australia	$218,615,000
Tasmania	$52,855,000
Northern Territory	$24,337,500
Australian Capital Territory	$49,844,014
NATIONAL	$2,388,067,459

(Australian Retailers Association)

2016/17 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by Category

Category	2015 Post-Xmas Actual results ($mil)	2016 Post-Xmas Prediction ($mil)	Predicted Growth
Food	6818	6984	2.4%
Household goods	2967	3018	1.7%
Apparel	1307	1346	3.0%
Department stores	1078	1080	0.2%
Other	2292	2365	3.2%
Hospitality	2324	2483	6.8%
NATIONAL	16786	17276	2.9%

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

 

2016/17 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by State

State	2015 Post-Xmas Actual results ($mil)	2016 Post-Xmas Prediction ($mil)	Predicted Growth
New South Wales	5380	5571	3.6%
Victoria	4213	4351	3.3%
Queensland	3390	3496	3.1%
South Australia	1088	1126	3.5%
Western Australia	1900	1901	0.1%
Tasmania	332	341	2.7%
Northern Territory	177	177	0.0%
Australian Capital Territory	306	313	2.3%
NATIONAL	16786	17276	2.9%

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

 

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $300 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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