Recent findings from the Commonwealth Bank has forecast that Australians will splurge $11 billion on Christmas this year, with online shopping tipped to be even stronger.
CBA predicts that December 16th will be ‘the‘ day, with 6 million Aussies tipped to do the majority of their Christmas shopping then.
With Christmas falling on a Monday this year, the last weekend before Christmas is expected to be somewhat quieter – “big spending” is set to occur between December 15th & 17th.
Online shopping is expected to soar across all demographics, notching an increase of 1 million to 13.3 million.
86% of Gen Y consumers are forecast to go online for their Christmas shopping. Interestingly, Gen Y is also the largest consumer segment who will browse instore. The report affirms that Gen Y will primarily go online ‘for a bargain’.
Conversely, 82% of Gen Z will research online, however, will shop instore.
The bank warns that ‘massive overspending’ is a concern, with the average Australian spend resting at $593 – climbing 25% over the last five years.
CBA Executive General Manager, Clive van Horen, warns that a large number of Australians will not maintain a strict budget this holiday period:
“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”.
Women are expected to be more organised than their male counterpart, with the majority of females expected to complete their Christmas shopping by December 17th, and 23% of males expected to collect last-minute gifts on December 23rd.
Baby Boomers and Gen X are expected to spend the most this year – however slightly less than last year – whilst Gen Y is tipped to splash more this year than last, around $557.
South Australians are tipped to spend the most this year, with Queenslanders expected to spend the least ($508).
