Retailers are banking on festive cheer to stay afloat after Christmas sales period

MANY Australian retailers will need a Christmas sales spike to stay afloat next year, the industry has warned.

The latest national figures show retail sales rebounded by 1.6 per cent to $29.6bn in October, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Sales were 7.3 per cent higher than the same time last year, seasonally adjusted.

National Retail Association deputy chief executive Lindsay Carroll said the figures were cause for optimism.

“Victorian retailers reopening at the end of the month has helped to provide a boost in overall turnover for the month of October,” she said. “But we are still operating in challenging times and there’s no room for complacency.”

She said consumers currently had a healthy level of discretionary spending power due to government assistance measures and restrictions on travelling overseas. But she stressed the importance of retail sales remaining strong between now and Christmas.

“Recent events in South Australia underline how volatile the current environment is,” she said. “We’ve just entered the Christmas trade period – the second half of

November and all of December – and a bumper festive season will mark the start of a retail recovery.

“Many businesses desperately need a Christmas sales splurge to stay afloat heading into 2021 and hopefully we see further increases in monthly turnover between now and the end of the year.”

The NRA expects Australians to splash out $52.4bn over the Christmas period, a 5 per cent jump on last year. In Queensland, it has flagged $10.6bn in Christmas sales, a 6 per cent surge.

Ms Carroll said that online Christmas sales could break the $5bn barrier for the first time due to shifts in consumer behaviour and the growing popularity of events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday this month. “Consumer spending habits are definitely changing and the online trend has been accelerated by the COVID lockdowns,” she said.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said predictions for a pick-up in Christmas trading reflected the significant changes in spending patterns due to the pandemic.

“Most states that have remained open and largely virus-free since the initial lockdowns are expected to see double-digit growth,” he said.