Australia’s Christmas shopping to be short on supplies and staff

Consumers will have to scramble for popular presents, including designer clothing and electronics, with material and supply chain shortages limiting stock.

Kids will need to get their wish list to Santa early this year with supply and labour shortages putting pressure on Christmas shopping.

Pre Christmas online sales Black Friday and Cyber Monday will offer massive discounts but retail experts are warning consumers to shop early and prepare to pay more for in-demand presents.

Staff shortages that have already hit the hospitality industry have also extended to retail due to a lack of international students.

And consumers must prepare to scramble for popular presents, including designer clothing and electronics, with material and supply chain shortages limiting stock.

Sydney’s St. Mary's Cathedral illuminated Christmas lights. Picture: Daniel Tran

The holiday season crunch has prompted the state government to fund free TAFE NSW courses in retail skills to get staff behind shop counters in time for the peak.

Retail Doctor chief executive Brian Walker said the Christmas period particularly relied on students to fill casual roles.

“The hotels and hospitality are fully open and with only a finite number of staff available, that will put on strain,” he said

“Leading retailers are saying getting products out of the international markets is a major challenge. There has been a lot of backlog at ports.

“There is a generally perceived lack of stock particularly for new stock. The obvious flow on effects could be a gap in the market of new products and prices rising in some products, for example games and electronics.”

All signs are pointing to a bumper festive trading period, with new figures showing consumer spending surged in October after months of lockdown.

Commonwealth Bank data shows national retail spending leapt 9.1 per cent in October from September, while National Australia Bank figures showed NSW spent 10 per cent more on retail.

Black Friday on November 26 and Cyber Monday will offer big online discounts and continue the boost to the retail industry, with a survey from Amazon showing 350,000 more Australians will use the events compared to last year.

Kmart worker James Wigg expects stores to be busy in the lead up to Christmas. Picture: Toby Zerna

The survey shows close to one third of Christmas shoppers are bringing gift buying forward amid concerns about having them delivered on time while only one-in-10 say they will do all their Christmas shopping via the web this year.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said local delivery issues and industrial disputes had exacerbated problems for the industry.

“There are myriad issues that are creating the perfect storm for retailers heading into Christmas. We have Australia Post buckling under elevated levels of online shopping,” he said.

“We’ve had industrial relations disputes from port workers … The only thing in our control is improving our staffing levels and training people to get them into those jobs.”

Skills Minister Geoff Lee said 3500 training places for 40 different courses will help strengthen the workforce.

“Retail accounts for more than 44,000 NSW businesses, employing one in 10 workers. It’s our second largest employer and a hugely important part of the job market.”

TAFE NSW student James Wigg, 19, has worked at Kmart for the past three years and has recently completed courses in retail management and retails services and is anticipating a busy Christmas.

“I really did miss those customer interactions. Our store has been quite busy since we reopened and thankfully customers understand if there are any delays,” he said.

“I feel well prepared for the holiday season.”

Originally published as Australia’s Christmas shopping to be short on supplies and staff