The National Retail Association is expecting a further $17.8 billion dollars spent in retail during the final ten days before Christmas, as Australians finalise last-minute Christmas shopping and stock up on festive food for the holidays.
NRA chief executive Dominique Lamb said retail trade is set to become “incredible busy” over the final stretch of the holiday shopping season.
“More than one-third of sales during the Christmas trade period will occur in the final ten days before Santa rides his sleigh into town, so you can expect to see retail stores across the country packed to the rafters with shoppers,” Lamb said.
Online is expected to reach a total of $1.07 billion over the final stretch, with $387 of that coming from pure-play retailers, and the remaining $683 million going to multi-channel businesses.
It is expected that $5.8 billion of the total figure will be spent in New South Wales, with Victoria seeing a further $4.7 billion over the period.
Queensland will see $3.4 billion, while Western Australian spending will likely reach $1.9 billion.
In an effort to attract more and more customers, shopping centres are opening later and later, with Highpoint Shopping Centre management noting it will remain open for 32-hours non-stop from 9am on Sunday 23 to 5pm on Monday 24.
“Customers are busier than ever in the lead up to Christmas so Highpoint is thrilled to extend its trading hours, providing customers with even more opportunities to shop at a time convenient to them,” Highpoint centre manager Ryan Ling said.
The centre is also running a promotion in which customers who shop between 2 am and 6 am have a chance to win their ‘entire shop back’, as well as offering complimentary Santa photography between 7am and 9am.
During the month of December, Highpoint expects two million customers to pass through its doors.
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