Retailers successfully coaxed inflation-conscious shoppers to Monday’s Boxing Day sales, but it remains to be seen how the foot traffic drawn by discounts translates to the bottom line.

The Australian Retailers Association predicts post-Christmas sales – the period between Boxing Day and January 15 – will rise 7.9 per cent from the year-earlier period to hit $23.5 billion. It follows the association’s similarly bullish forecast for pre-Christmas retail trading (November 1 to December 24) of $66 billion, or 6.4 per cent higher than a year ago.