Tills keep ringing as festive sales take off
RETAILERS are feeling the rush as the summer sale spendathon shows no sign of slowing down in Cairns.
Appliances and expensive electronics are among the most popular purchases, according to local retailers, as people look to trade up from smaller, more personalised Christmas gifts.
Cairns Central centre manager Christie-Lee Jackson said customers were buying toys, electronics and appliances, while the most significant returns were clothing.
“Customers are taking advantage of post-Christmas bargains. Generally, the bigger the discount, the more popular the item,” she said.
Harvey Norman electrical department proprietor Brian Nicholson said people had been trading up repeat gifts such as hair-dryers and electric razors for 4K TVs and fridges.
“It’s one of the biggest retail days Cairns has ever had, people have money to spend, and now’s the time to make big purchases,” he said.
“At Harvey Norman, people are buying large 55-86 inch TVs, laptops and gaming PCs and refrigeration units.
“Last year, the average price of a 4K TV was $12,999. At the moment it’s down to $4496.”
Mr Nicholson said, with massive crowds looking to get away from the wet weather, many were turning to online shopping.
“People don’t want to go out unless they know something’s in stock or can be delivered, so online shopping is very important,” he said.
Cairns DFO Jay Jays manager Andrea Smythe said crowds at the store were intense yesterday, with indications the rest of the week would be similar.
“In the first three hours of Boxing Day, we saw more trade than we’d seen in the last two years,” she said.
“A lot of people were buying multiple discounted shirts and dresses, even a $20 gift card goes a long way.”
Good Guys Cairns manager Sufyaan Hussein said, despite the chaos and weather, he found Cairns customers more patient than when he worked in Brisbane.
“With Brisbane customers, if they can’t get something now, they’ll go somewhere else,” he said.
“Here, we had the rain slowing down a lot of deliveries, requiring us to wrap fragile items like TVs in extra plastic, but people were still willing to wait.”
He said a lot of people were using gift cards to spend at the post-Christma sales.