It’s 4pm on Thursday, December 19 and Melbourne Central Shopping Centre is bustling with frantic, festive energy.
Crowds race between different stores armed with an array of shopping bags, while a Santa Claus busker plays a rendition of Jingle Bells on a piano accordion near the railway station.
Australian shoppers are forecast to spend $69.8 billion during the lead-up to Christmas this year. Credit: Natalie Boog
Christmas is right around the corner, but Alice Donohue still has four more presents to buy.
The 20-year-old and her younger sister Summer and cousin India-Scarlet Wise are all self-described chronic last-minute shoppers.
“We always leave it to the last moment, every year,” Donohue says with a laugh.
“I think we like the hustle,” Wise adds. “There’s this really great energy, plus the time pressure helps you decide on gifts quicker.”
They are not alone.
Melbourne’s Chadstone Shopping centre – the largest indoor retail centre in Australia - expects to welcome half a million last-minute shoppers in the week before Christmas.
Chadstone Shopping Centre expects a last-minute bonanza of sales for Christmas presents.Credit: Joe Armao
Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building is expecting similar numbers, at an estimated 545,000 visitors between December 18 and 24.
Despite the current cost-of-living crunch, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) says shoppers are forecast to spend $69.8 billion in the lead-up to Christmas, a 2.7 per cent increase from 2023.
New South Wales consumers are predicted to spend $21.9 billion, while Victorian shoppers are projected to spend $17.8 billion.
Nearly 16.7 million Australians will buy Christmas gifts, with the average shopper spending $707.
Chadstone shopping centre manager Daniel Boyle says his team starts preparing for the busy festive season in June.
“We start planning how to support retailers recruit their Christmas casuals … getting that people-power ready takes a lot of time and effort,” he says.
December is still Chadstone’s biggest and busiest month, but Boyle has noticed an increase in traffic in November, with shoppers taking advantage of Black Friday sales.
“Black Friday is probably the catalyst of change in our industry,” he says. “It provides a really terrific opportunity for organised people to prepare their Christmas presents.”
A recent Shopify survey found 53 per cent of Australian consumers finalised their Christmas shopping lists by mid-October, while 58 per cent finished buying their gifts by the end of November.
However, Boyle says shopping centres receive an inevitable influx of last-minute Christmas shoppers.
“There’s plenty of people shopping on Christmas Eve,” he says. “That’s OK, as long as they’re organised for the next day.”
MECCA retail general manager Sophie Wood says their stores received an almost 200 per cent increase in foot traffic in the week leading up to Christmas in 2023 and expected to see similar numbers this year.
The beauty juggernaut hired an extra 1000 Christmas casuals this year to meet increased demand over the holiday period.
Myer chief customer officer Geoff Ikin encourages last-minute shoppers to take advantage of extended trading hours and click-and-collect services during the busy holiday period.
He says Lego, Barbie and personalised Kit Kats at Myer were popular last-minute gifts in the lead-up to Christmas.
However, it’s not just retail heavyweights that are inundated with last-minute Christmas shoppers.
Melbourne independent bookstore owner Leesa Lambert deliberately does not play Christmas carols in her store to try and decrease stress for shoppers.
Little Bookroom owner Leesa Lambert creates a relaxing environment for last-minute Christmas shoppers.Credit: Justin McManus
“We try to make the environment as relaxing and stress-free as possible, which is hard because I’d love to play some Christmas music,” she says.
Lambert has owned The Little Bookroom in Carlton North for 16 years and says last-minute Christmas shopping has gotten later every year.
“We have a lot of brown paper ready to go, and we hire a lot of Christmas casuals this time of year to help us out,” she says.
“Last-minute shoppers are usually keen for recommendations … a lot of picture books and novels by local authors fly off the shelves. It’s a busy time of year.”
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