Australians retailers are scrambling to fill some 40,000 roles in order to trade at the capacity needed this Christmas season.

Research conducted by the Australian Retailers Association, Roy Morgan and Salesforce shows retailers are gearing up for an expected $64 billion holiday season splurge, despite inflation and ever-rising interest rates.

Department store spending is expected to reach $3.4 billion, up from last year’s $3.2, while spending on household goods will jump to $11.6 billion, from $11.3 billion in 2021.

This would see total spend across the country up three per cent on last year’s Christmas period, and well up from pre-pandemic spend in 2019 of $52.9 billion.

But worker shortages could undo all this Christmas hope.

“As we lead into Christmas, labour shortages remain the biggest issue,” explains Paul Zahra, CEO of the Retailers Association.

“There are over 40,000 job vacancies in retail and many businesses are struggling to trade at their full potential because they can’t get enough people to fill shifts.

“It means the recruitment of Christmas casuals will be a difficult one, as businesses are already struggling without the high demand of the festive season.

“It means retailers have to plan well in advance – much earlier than they normally would – to ensure they have enough staff to cope with the Christmas shopping rush.”

Zahra notes the Christmas trading quarter is the most critical on the retail calendar, when most discretionary stores make up to two thirds of their profits.