Shoppers rush to embrace Christmas
Consumers are spending up large on presents, but lockdown losses still hurt retailers. Matthew Tso reports.
Retailers say Black Friday sales and Covid-modified behaviour have meant traditional Christmas shopping may have started a little earlier this year.
Alchemy Equipment has two stores in Wellington’s CBD and founder Campbell Junor says there was a spike in spending during and following Black Friday at the end of November, but was uncertain whether the higher turnover would continue.
‘‘ Black Friday has changed habits in Christmas spending,’’ Junor says.
‘‘ Being quite close to Christmas this year, it has taken the early sales we normally experience as part of our Christmas campaign.’’
Ian Douglas, a director at The Village Goldsmith, agreed, saying ‘‘ what we’ve found is Black Friday sales have put people in spending mode earlier’’.
He said the average shopper was spending 30 to 50 per cent more than a year ago, which he put down to people having more disposable income because they were not taking overseas trips.
Hamish Vance, owner of menswear store Vance Vivian, also said business was up on the same time last year, and they were expecting to have a better than usual Christmas period.
He said customer spending had remained higher than normal following the end of lockdown. Like Douglas, he put it down to the near cessation of international travel. The overall number of customers had also increased with more domestic tourists visiting Wellington, he said.
Vance believed some shoppers were buying early for fear imported items might not be restocked because of overseas lockdowns.
‘‘Nothing will make up the loss we made when we shut down [during lockdown]’’, he added.
Manager at The Beanery by Mojo, Logan Collinge, was expecting business to ramp up over the next two weeks but said that overall, consumers had been spending more over the last few months than usual.
Steve Mills, general manager of merchandise at supermarket chain Countdown, said: ‘‘I think that it’s fair to say that after one of the most challenging years in history we’re all ready for Christmas’’.
The company’s research shows New Zealanders are getting into the festive spirit early.
The company’s survey of 1500 people showed Christmas eating habits were steeped in tradition. Ham was the top ‘ must have’ on the table, followed by pavlova. Other favourites included a leg of lamb, turkey and trifle.
Countdown expects to sell 2 million punnets of strawberries – the only time in the year bananas would be knocked off the pedestal as the country’s favourite fruit – and enough fruit mince pies to stretch from Auckland to Whanga¯rei.
It also expected to sell 850 kilometres of wrapping paper.