Aussie shoppers are expected to splurge $11 billion on Christmas spending this year — with shopping online proving more popular than last year — and with Saturday, 16 December, likely to see six million Australians do most of their shopping, according to a new report.
The Commonwealth Bank report said the number of people planning to do some shopping online this year was up one million to 13.3 million and had increased across all demographics.
And with massive overspending a concern, the bank says average spend is sitting at $593, up 25% over the last five years.
CBA executive general manager Clive van Horen said people should keep track of their spending during this busy period.
{loadposition peter}“While slightly more of us have set a budget this Christmas, Aussies will overspend by a huge $625 million. Keeping track of spending is clearly not on the Christmas list for nearly 40% of shoppers.”
And CBA says women are the most likely to start and finish their shopping earlier, but big spending can be expected across from 15 to 17 December when 8.5 million plan to shop.
Traditionally, the last weekend before Christmas is often the busiest, but according to this year’s research, with Christmas falling on a Monday this will be a little quieter than usual with the weekend of 9 and 10 December being the second busiest days.
Against this forecast, the CBA says women expect to wrap up their shopping by 17 December, although 23% of men will leave it to the last minute and still be picking up gifts on 23 December.
But according to the research, Baby Boomers and Gen X are planning on spending the most this year although they plan to spend slightly less than in 2016, while Gen Y will spend around $557 which is up 14% on last year’s spending.
And when it comes to contributing to buying presents, Aussies will typically contribute three times more for a family member ($136) than a friend ($38) – with even less going towards work mates ($16), says the CBA.
And, the research reveals that Gen Z and Gen Y are the most generous when it comes to group gifts for mates, spending $58 and $51 respectively – and those aged over 49 spend $35 or less on friends.
When it comes to shopping for Xmas online versus instore, this year 1.1 million more Aussies plan to do some of their shopping online compared with 2016, now up to 13.3 million.
The research also reveals that across the board all demographics plan to shop online with 86% of Gen Ys hitting the Internet – and Gen Y is also the largest group who browse instore, but go online for a bargain (44%).
But, it’s the Gen Z who do their research online but shop instore (62%), the research shows.
And men seem to be the weaker sex when it comes to setting a Christmas spending budget, while the majority of Aussies don’t set a budget almost two-thirds of men spend at Christmas without a plan.
According to van Horen, there are simple ways to keep track of spending on the go without a lot of work.
“Christmas isn’t only an expensive time because of gift buying. It’s also a time of year where we entertain and go out more and spend a little extra on our homes so it’s really important we set a budget and keep track of how much we are spending and where that money is going.
“If shoppers are using credit cards our app offers some really easy ways to track spending by category, adjust daily spend limits, get reminders when payments are due and lock against some types of spending to make sure the cards are secure. No one wants a nasty surprise in January when it can be avoided.”
On a state by state basis, the research reveals that on average, South Australians/NT spend the most on Christmas gifts ($671), while Queenslanders spend the least ($508).
Shared gifts are a popular way to give and budget at Christmas, according to the CBA, with those shoppers from Vic/Tas spending the most on family members ($157) and friends ($46) while those from SA/NT are the most generous towards their work mates ($25). Queenslanders spend the least on family ($95), friends ($22) and workmates ($7).
