Discounts and customer rewards will be part of this year's Boxing Day sales

CUSTOMER rewards, notifications on your mobile phone and significant discounts ... the Boxing Day sales are set to make a great leap forward in 2013.

Shopping takes its toll ... Rose Byrne will ring the David Jones Boxing Day sales bell in Sydney.

THIS year's post-Christmas sales could offer the deepest discounting since the 1990s.

Retailers are also tipped to unleash new technology that will reward loyal customers with even better deals.

Queensland University of Technology's Gary Mortimer said discounting prior to Christmas had been limited compared to previous years as retailers prepared to reinstitute true clearance sales that he predicted would run for as little as a fortnight.

"I think the time frames will condense and the discounts will get deeper," Dr Mortimer said.

It would be the first time since the 1990s that retailers had employed such an approach to Boxing Day and beyond, he added.

Across the country, spending will likely rise by more than 5 per cent to $17.6 billion, according to the Australian National Retailers Association. Of that, nearly $2 billion will be forked out on Boxing Day.

QUT's Dr Mortimer said consumers could expect to be targeted with an SMS containing special offers when near stores whose loyalty schemes they had joined. It had happened to him, he said.

But this would potentially be more advanced than simply saying step inside for an extra percentage off. Dr Mortimer said it was rumoured that one major retailer was trialling technology that could calibrate offers based on an individual's previous purchases.

Repeat business rewarded ... Australian National Retailers Association chief executive Margy Osmond. Picture: Kylie Else

For example, a shopper who'd bought a certain brand of shoes before might be enticed with the promise of a big discount if they did so again, then and there.

This is not the limit of "variable pricing".

David White, who heads the retail unit at consultancy firm Deloitte, said some retailers had made hefty investments in systems that gave them the ability to adjust local charging almost instantly. So stores that were trailing sales goals could have their prices cut. Conversely, prices could be increased where demand was too great.

Prices could also be set to vary by time of day in order to increase "footfall" in stores, Mr White said.

"We are seeing people become a lot more sophisticated in how they price their products," Mr White said.

ANRA CEO Margy Osmond did not support the view that discounting would be deeper. However, repeat business would be rewarded.

"There's no doubt the nature of the retail landscape is changing," Ms Osmond said.

"During this year's post-Christmas sales period we don't anticipate the same level of broad based discounting that we have seen in the past.

"What consumers will see however is far more sophisticated and targeted strategies that will steer loyal and regular customers to in-store and online bargains."

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