Celebratory feel to orderly, robust Christmas shopping this year

Thursday, 24 December 2020

Christmas shoppers are opting to get their festivities sorted unusually early this year, retailers say.

As shoppers rush to finish last minute errands, retailers are reporting a strong Christmas trading period, if perhaps a little more organised this year.

With lockdowns and cargo still sitting at the ports, retailers have had many obstacles to overcome this year but been compensated in part by heavy retail therapy.

Going by the retail trends, Guy Hooper, a retail equities analyst at Forsyth Barr, said there was a lot of pre-Yuletide spending this year.

‘’Given supply chain concerns there may have been people looking to purchase earlier.’’

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Chess sets are expected to be a hot item this Christmas, inspired by hit show The Queen’s Gambit.

Nesting has been a big theme in the lead-up to Christmas, with furniture, DIY and renovation items reflecting the buoyant housing market.

Congestion at ports has made it tricky for retailers to stock all its usual goodies this year.

Retailers around the country are reporting strong sales. In bustling Mount Maunganui, Steve Ellingford, centre manager of Bayfair shopping centre, said there was a real sense of celebration in the air.

‘’October and November have been bumper months and December’s looking the same.

‘’As far as retailers are concerned, I would suggest they’ll be very happy.’’

Spending through the Paymark electronic card network at 2pm showed Kiwi consumers had already spent more than $166 million on Christmas Eve.

Hundred of retails workers protest in favour of living wage, picketing outside St Lukes' Countdown, in 2019.

Chief executive Maxine Elliott says shoppers also set a new record for transactions, which peaked today at 204 transactions per second, up from 188 previously.

“Christmas Eve always gives the network a good workout and we work hard to ensure the retail network is fully operational throughout the busiest shopping period of the year.”

Trading has also been steady at the Warehouse Group, where first quarter sales are up 6.3 per cent on last year and running 6.6 per cent ahead to date this year.

Chief executive Nick Grayston said sales were well above expectations and was ‘’particularly notable given the negative impact of shipping availability issues outside of our control”.

Stock levels were satisfactory for the summer and Back to School period, but delivery of some winter products could be affected, he said.

Another trend this year was the changing shape of Boxing Day. While The Warehouse will kick off its online Boxing Day sale at 8pm Christmas Eve to stoke consumer desire, Hooper said Black Friday and Cyber Monday had stolen a lot of Boxing Day’s glory.

‘’That's been a trend for the last few years, and it’s [now] a bigger sales period than Boxing Day.’’

Shoppers were also continuing to buy digitally. According to Hooper, online sales for the year to October were up 17 per cent and now represent 9.5 per cent of all sales, up from 8.1 per cent last year.

But since the introduction of GST on overseas merchandise late last year, domestic online retailers had taken a meaningful slice of that sector.

As for what might be under the tree, his research indicated that selfie lights and microfibre pillows were high on shopping lists this year.

Other gifts likely to be popular with the younger crowd were Disney+ subscriptions, Sharesies vouchers and chess boards, popularised by Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit.