It’s jingle tills all the way as last-minute shoppers stock up for Christmas

Shoppers have made the final dash to sort last-minute Christmas gifts and complete the list of food staples needed for the big festive meal.

With Christmas just two days away, retail experts say the focus has now shifted from gifting to food as shoppers race to supermarkets to buy ham, meat, sausages, vegetables, fresh seafood and alcohol.

“There’s some last-minute gift purchasing taking place but at this late stage, most gifts are wrapped and sitting underneath the tree,” retail expert Gary Mortimer from Queensland University of Technology said.

“Anything that was purchased online has hopefully been delivered and now the focus is into food.”

According to digital payments provider Visa on Monday, NSW and Victoria continued to account for more than 55 per cent of retail sales between November 1 and December 20.

Queensland and Western Australia recorded one of the highest growth rates year-on-year, increasing by 8.8 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively.

“Despite cost-of-living pressures that many families across Australia continue to experience, there has been a significant increase in the growth of retail spend in Australia,” David Peacock, Visa’s head of consulting and analytics for Australia-Pacific, said.

“Expectations of a peak in interest rates, combined with wage growth starting to exceed inflation and resilient employment appear to contribute to higher than expected spend.”

Australians are forecast to spend a whopping $69.8 billion in the six weeks up to December 24, up 2.7 per cent on last year, new Australian Retailers Association revealed.

In total, 16.7 million Australians will buy Christmas gifts in 2024, up one per cent on 2023. On average, those shoppers are forecast to spend $707 each, up $61 on the average recorded a year ago.

“I suspect that shoppers have not bought anymore products, they’ve just spent a bit more on those products they would normally buy, hence the $70b (figure),” Professor Mortimer said.

Australians are expected to spend $11.8b on gifts, $1.6b more on last year’s figures.

Speaking to The Nightly on Friday, Kmart and Target boss John Gualtieri said he still expected the five days to Christmas to be its busiest trading days of the year. This was despite fears the Black Friday sales spree could detract from Christmas revenue.

Mr Gualtieri is gearing up for the “millions” of shoppers expected to flock to its 449 Kmart and Target stores across Australia and New Zealand between Friday and Christmas Day, all with different agendas in mind.

“If I look across our business today, what’s been in demand . . . (are) matching pyjama sets for the family including the fur baby,” Mr Gualtieri said.

With the cash rate steady at 4.35 per cent — where it has stayed for 13 months — Mr Gualtieri doesn’t see much change in shopping habits over the holidays.

“With the cost of living crisis, customers have been looking for value and as we go into the holiday period they’re looking for exactly the same thing . . . and how they get that little bit extra into their baskets,” he said.

“We keep our prices really low. We pass on any of the savings that we get . . . onto our customers.”

Kmart and Target have also improved their services this year, Mr Gualtieri said. He pointed to Target’s home delivery via Uber.