Today’s the day as Christmas spending hits top gear
WITH 31 days until Christmas, today is shaping up as one of the biggest to splash cash.
New research shows last year there was a spike in sales across Australia on the Saturday a month out from Christmas.
Payment platform Square analysed 14 million transactions from Australian businesses in the three months to December 25.
Twelve weeks out from Christmas, sales volumes rose significantly on the longerterm average – up 31 per cent in October, 57 per cent in November and 73 in December.
The middle two Saturdays of December were particularly busy and the weekday peak was 1pm.
Spending on leisure and entertainment, which could cover markets, music events, festivals, Christmas parties and other celebrations, surged 159 per cent during December.
Retail was up 106 per cent, food and beverage, covering cafes and restaurants, up 80 per cent and beauty up 74 per cent.
Based in San Francisco, Square was co-founded by chief executive Jack Dorsey, who also co-founded and runs social media platform Twitter. The company provides contactless payment hardware, software and services to business.
Small business The Plant Society said its trading jumped as much as 187 per cent in the lead-up to Christmas.
Co-owners Jason Chongue and Nathan Smith said as indoor plants continued to regain popularity, they were expecting a bumper Christmas.
They said that last year revenue jumped 33 per cent in October, 83 per cent in November and 187 per cent in December.
“Looking at our sales data from last year, we can predict exactly when our peak selling days are likely to be, so we know when we need to have extra staff, payment devices, and stock on hand,” Mr Chongue said in a statement.
Mr Chongue left his career as an architect and Mr Smith his as a flight attendant to establish the business in 2016.
Square’s country manager for Australia, Ben Pfisterer, said that as people increasingly shopped without cash, the company was able to glean useful information.
Digital payment systems could be used as powerful reporting tools to see what products were selling, the frequency of sales and the average amount spent. “The holiday shopping rush is the busiest time of year for a lot of businesses, so these data insights are extremely valuable.”