The numbers are in and the Australian Retailers Association can confirm that the Christmas retail period exceeded its own expectations in value terms.
The ARA and research partner Roy Morgan Research predicted that $45 billion would be spent in Australian stores from 15 November to 24 December 2014. Australian shoppers actually spent $45.2 billion during the pre-Christmas period the ARA said today.
ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman said the positive result — confirmed by ABS data — was an extremely encouraging sign for the retail industry.
“We are pleased to see that the ARA’s predicted figure of $45 billion was exceeded, despite reports of shoppers cutting it close to December 25th to complete their Christmas shopping.
“The ARA has proudly partnered with Roy Morgan Research to deliver extremely accurate retail spend forecasts for a number of years now. In 2013 the ARA forecasted $42.2 billion would go through retail tills during the pre-Christmas trading period and this figure was later confirmed at an actual pre-Christmas spend of $43 billion. It’s encouraging to see our 2014 pre-Christmas figures were almost bang-on again,” Zimmerman said.
Food was the most valuable category at $18.6 billion. Household goods exceeded expectations, it was predicted to attract $7.5 billion but was actually worth $7.9 billion. Department stores on the other hand performed below expectations, they were forecast to bring in $3 billion but the final figures show a spend of $2.9 billion.
The biggest spending states were NSW ($14.4 billion), Victoria ($11.2 billion) and Queensland ($9.2 billion).
“The retail industry can now enjoy a heightened sense of confidence leading into 2015 knowing that shoppers spent a significant $45.2 billion in the lead up to Christmas last year. The festive period can be an extremely stressful time for business owners and I’m sure they will all be relieved to know that Christmas 2014 has indeed been one of the most successful to date.
“The ARA looks forward to confirming the actual post-Christmas spend (26 December 2014 to 15 January 2015) in the next month or so,” Zimmerman said.