Boxing Day crowds arrived early to grab a bargain with a big surge in sales revenue forecast for this year – but the traditional aggressive stampedes were absent.
Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall and Melbourne’s Bourke Street attracted the most dedicated bargain hunters as shoppers flocked to city centre stores in the hope of grabbing a discount of up to 80 per cent.
Crowds, however, were restrained compared with previous years as departments stores like David Jones in downtown Melbourne opened their shutters at 7am. Electronic goods are tipped to have the most demand, ahead of clothing.
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“You know how you see on the TV people are charging through? Well, I haven’t quite seen that yet,” a woman told the ABC.
Another Boxing Day shopper said he was surprised at the absence of long queues, with Covid now a distant memory.
“Normally, I used to come here at five o’clock in the morning. There used to be a queue outside but this year is a little bit quieter,” he said.
The day of Christmas is traditionally a day of heightened bargaining hunting with the Australian Retailers Association forecasting a 4.3 per cent sales increase this year from the budget-conscious crowd.
This is expected to see $1.6 billion spent on Boxing Day alone, as $3.8 billion is spent during the final week of 2025.
Australians are still turning up for bargain in person, despite the existence of online sales.
“Australians continue to turn out in large numbers for the Boxing Day shopping experience, drawn by the connection to trusted brands, fresh stock movement and strong seasonal value,” the group’s chief executive Chris Rodwell said.
Almost 30 per cent of Boxing Day trade is expected to be spent on household goods like electrical appliances, with $476 million to be shelled out, marking a 4.4 per cent increase compared with a year ago.
Clothing, shoes and accessory spending was tipped to come to $216 million today or 1.9 per cent more than last year.
Department store trade of $123 million was expected to be 5.1 per cent firmer than 2024.
The return of inflationary pressures has made consumers particularly inclined to hunt for a good deal with Australia’s Big Four banks now expecting the Reserve Bank to either hike rates, or leave them on hold, in 2026.
Relief is off the table with inflation soaring by 3.8 per cent in the year ended October 31, putting it well above the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target ban.
If inflation doesn’t moderate in November and December, the Reserve Bank could hike rates again as soon as February 3, when the monetary policy board returns from summer holidays.
Westpac’s own data on consumer card spending showed strong spending growth in November and December, taking in last month’s Black Friday sales, with strong demand for clothing and footwear.
“Underlying trends continue to point to robust growth,” the bank’s head of Australian macro-forecasting Matthew Hassan said.
While Australians are spending more at department stores, dashed expectations of rate cuts next year have seen them cut back on holiday spending.
“Shifting expectations for interest rates may be affecting future travel plans,” Mr Hassan said.
