Massive crowds for Boxing Day sales across Brisbane

Shoppers have packed shopping centres across Brisbane for Boxing Day sales, with footage capturing the frenzied action as stores opened. WATCH THE VIDEO

Huge crowds at Westfield Chermside for Boxing Day sales.

Shoppers keen to snap up a bargain have flocked to the shops on Boxing Day, despite a shift away from in-person window shopping and towards online browsing and click and collect.

Queenslanders are expected to spend close to $420 on average per person on December 26, according to a survey conducted by Finder of 1010 respondents across the nation, which is below the $489 anticipated national average spend per person.

Vision from Westfield Chermside showed hordes of shoppers waiting for store roller doors to be raised, while others crowded the aisles and rummaged through bargain bins.

Dozens of eager bargain hunters crowded outside retail giant Kmart.

There were also long lines in front of cosmetic store Lush and clothing outlet Kookai within less than an hour of the businesses opening.

Variety store Hot Bargain assistant manager Rosalyn Su said Monday and Tuesday were “crazy”, and shoppers showed no signs of slowing down on Boxing Day.

“That’s before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so the customers would just buy a lot of items to decorate their house,” she said.

“On Boxing Day, we’ll provide all seasonal items with more discounts, up to 50 per cent off.”

LKB Gift manager Anna Li said the business was losing money this Christmas compared to last year.

“They [shoppers] really go to Target or Kmart. It’s really crazy today,” she said.

A long queue forms outside Kookai Chermside. Picture: Grace Koo

But she said the crowds from the big retailers did not help much with her sales.

Shopper Belle Mensah started her day early, purchasing clothes and household items.

“A lot of people had a shop, so (there’re) a lot of slow walkers,” she said.

Fellow shopper Montana Shepherd spent 30 minutes in line to enter Australian clothing outlet Kookai to get her favourite outfits.

“There were heaps of people. In Cotton On, the line up was massive,” she said.

“Pretty much all the stores that we went to, we had to line up.”

Ms Shepherd shopped at Westfield Carindale in the morning and planned to head to Harbour Town on the Gold Coast for some great deals.

“We came in thinking that there weren’t going to be much to get, because it was going to be too busy,” she said.

“We ended up walking out with bags full of stuff.”

Experts say there has been a noticeable shift away from spending hours in the shops in-person scoping out the sales, with consumers now going online to pre-plan their purchases and use services such as click and collect and online stock finders.

Mecca Maxima Chermside packed on Boxing Day. Picture: Grace Koo

“I think we’ll see a subdued Boxing Day, post-Christmas sales period in Queensland because I think shoppers are more planned in their approach to making purchases,” QUT retail expert Gary Mortimer said.

“You’re putting stuff in your online shopping cart and letting it sit there and then just seeing what the price is on December 25.”

Australian Retail Association Chief Industry Affairs Officer Fleur Brown agreed, saying that the country had seen the rise of the “connected shopper”, with consumers heavily researching their purchases online before heading in store.

“In this economy, Queenslanders are making a list and then checking it about ten times to make sure they’re getting the price right and knowing exactly where that item might be located to avoid disappointment,” she said.

“Online is growing of course, but the highest part of that growth is people spending more time researching the purchase.”

Ms Brown said that research even spilt over into the in-store experience, with consumers running price comparisons and information checks on their mobile while shopping.