Australians are likely to spend in excess of $17.8billion in the five weeks between 1 December and 6 January. This report looks at SCA listeners and their Christmas shopping behaviour. The KEY INSIGHTS from this report are: - 46% of SCA listener spent more than $500 on gifts last Christmas and 42% spent more than what they intended last year - Clothes, toys and gifts cards are number 1 on the shopping list when it comes to buying Christmas presents - Extended trading hours are attractive to SCA listeners with 57% of people doing the majority of their Christmas shopping outside of peak shopping hours - Half are heading online to find the perfect gift but 97% still head in store For more information contact the scaresearchdepartment@sca.com.au

1. SCA Christmas
Shopping Insights

2. Australians will likely spend in excess of $17.8bn this Christmas season – with the greatest proportion going towards gifts.
If this Christmas is anything like the last,
Australians will spend in excess of $17.8billion in
the five weeks between 1 December 2014 and 6
January 2015.
Whether we want to or not, many of us get
caught up in the Christmas hype and spend on
gifts, holidays, entertaining family and friends,
and then hitting the Boxing Day sales.
With almost all SCA listeners planning on
buying Christmas presents this year,
let’s look at the key insights into their
shopping behaviour.
gifting festive vacations
boxing day sales entertaining
$17.8bn
Source : https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/news/media-releases/2014/festive-spending.html & SCA Research Post Xmas Study, Feb 2015, Did you buy any Christmas gifts for Christmas 2014? N=1424
AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS SPENDING 2014

3. 46%
42%
94%of SCA listeners
spent more than
$500 on gifts last
Christmas
of SCA
listeners will
buy presents
this year
spent more than
what they intended
to last Christmas
Whilst almost all SCA listeners
purchased gifts for friends and family
last year, what’s interesting is that
almost half (42%) spent more than
what they intended to.
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study, February 2015 Did you buy any Christmas gifts for Christmas 2014? N-1424, I spent more than I intended to this Christmas : Agree N=1424 Before Christmas, many people had an idea in mind of how

4. Breaking it down, here’s what SCA listeners intended on spending on gifts last Christmas – and what they actually spent…
Try as they might to stick
to a budget, the SCA radio
audience spends more
than what they intend to on
Christmas presents
each year.
So cutting down on
spending might be the
intention this Christmas,
but it’s likely they will
actually end up spending
more than they planned to.
11%
23%
31%
15%
12%
7%
2%
8%
19%
27%
17%
13%
11%
5%
Less than
$100
$100-$250 $250-$500 $500-$750 $750-$1,000 $1,000-$2,000 $2,000+
I intended to spend
I actually spent
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, Feb 2015, Before Christmas, many people had an idea in mind of how much they would spend on presents. However, we know it’s hard to stick to a set amount! So – how

5. At the end of the day though, the SCA audience are not spending what they don’t have –
they’re using cash and debit cards rather than credit cards.
Credit is not king for the SCA
listener, with the majority of them
using cash and debit cards to make
their Christmas gift purchases.
Interesting to note is that 1 in 4
people used Paypal to pay for
Christmas gifts last year – an
indication of online purchases.
So what are they buying?
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, Feb 2015, And how did you pay for most of your Christmas presents this year? N=1345
debit card
Paypal
cash
layby
store card
credit card
Method of
payment

6. Clothes, toys and gift cards top the shopping list for Christmas.
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, What types of gifts did you purchase for people at Christmas? N=1345
Gifts on the shopping list
clothes toys gift cards books small
electrical
beauty products
/ perfume
jewellery money food homewares
kitchen
items
experience
voucher
gift basket large
electrical
flowers

7. When we compare the gifts bought with the previous year, we can see why 58% of people said they bought the same or more gifts than
the year before.
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, What types of gifts did you purchase for people at Christmas? N=1345 & I bought fewer items this Christmas compared with last Christmas : Neutral/Disagree N=1424
Gifts on the shopping list
clothes toys books beauty products
/ perfume
money food homewares
2014
2013

8. 80%
68%
60%
54%
50%
47%
42%
35%
30%
24%
20%
16%
15%
8%
5%
The most attractive gift buying segment are mums – they will likely be buying more gifts than other segments.
Mums are buying a greater number and variety of gifts
than other segments.
They seem to get caught up in the buying frenzy –
with half of them saying they spent more than they
intended to last Christmas.
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, ‘I spent more than I intended to this Christmas’ : Agree; What types of gifts did you purchase for people at Christmas? Females with children N=320
clothes
toys
gift cards
books
beauty products
small electrical
jewellery
Gifts mums bought last Christmas
money
food
home
“I spent more than I intended to this Christmas”

9. 51%
More than half of people gave gift cards last
Christmas, which is typically considered a pretty
impersonal gift (although not quite as bad as
giving cash – which 1 in 4 people did).
However, when we asked people why they gave
gift cards, it was because they wanted to make
sure they got a gift that the recipient actually
wanted. Given that Australians returned unwanted
Christmas gifts to the tune of $520million last
year, this is obviously a very real concern for
shoppers.
Giving a gift card also provided the opportunity for
the recipient to take advantage of the post-
Christmas sales – to get more bang for their buck.
So when are people shopping?
Gift card giving…
of people gave a
gift card last
Christmas
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, ‘I spent more than I intended to this Christmas’ : Agree; What types of gifts did you purchase for
people at Christmas? N=1345 & http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/christmas/rush-to-return-unwanted-christmas-gifts-20150101-12ggv8.html

10. The majority of Christmas shopping starts in November – but it seems to be getting later each year.
In our post-GFC world, having to
wait for the craziness of EOFY
and Boxing Day sales is no longer
a reality. With a nationwide ‘save’
mentality triggered by the GFC in
2008-2009, Australians now
expect and have become
accustomed to retailers almost
consistently being ‘on sale’.
This has meant that savvy
shoppers trying to save money by
buying in the mid-year sales for
Christmas, can now take their
time and wait for the next retail
offering in order to get the best
deal. Our research has suggested
a shift over the past few years
from starting shopping early, to
leaving it closer and closer to
Christmas Day.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Before July July August September October November 1st week of
December
2nd week of
December
3rd week of
December
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, Feb 2015, And again thinking about Christmas gifts, when did you start LOOKING for Christmas gifts in 2014 and when did you actually start PURCHASING presents?
57% of people did the majority of
their Christmas shopping outside
of peak shopping hours.
So extended trading hours are
pretty appealing!
When people started their Christmas shopping
In store v online

11. With almost everybody heading to a store to buy gifts at some stage, we also found that half of these people are also heading online to find
the perfect gift. Whilst the majority of Christmas shopping is done in store, on average more than one-third is done online.
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, ‘Where did you end up doing your Christmas shopping? & So you said that you did some of your Christmas shopping online. A little more specifically, what percentage of your
CHRISTMAS shopping do you think you did in store and on-line? N=671 & So you did a bit of your Christmas shopping in a store of some kind. What do you like about shopping in-store? N=1302
of people shop in store
97% 50%of people shop online
63%
Of those who shopped both in store and online, they did…
37%
of their
shopping
in store
of their
shopping
online
In store shopping is still more
popular.
It appears that people like to be
able to see and touch products
before they buy them and not
have to wait for the product to be
shipped.
I like being able to see the
product and compare the prices
from store to store and I also love
that I can buy it on the spot and
not have to wait for it.
- SCA listener

12. But shoppers still research online before hitting the shops – and expect to increase this behaviour this year.
of people use the internet to
research Christmas purchases prior
to going to the shops.
63%
expect they will
increase their usage of
the internet this year
to research Christmas
purchases prior to
going to the shops.
41%
Even more exciting is that….
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, Did you use the internet to research Christmas purchases prior to going to the shops? : Yes N=1345 & Based on your experiences with online shopping/research in the past year, do
you think you will increase your usage of the internet to enable you to do any of the following next Christmas? : Research products/services before going to the shops N=671

13. What it boils down to is that SCA listeners really get
into the gift buying spirit, with almost all of them
buying gifts.
They’ll be buying a variety of gifts and while plenty of
people will be researching their purchases online,
many will still be hitting the shops. They seem to like
the atmosphere of the shops at Christmas, the
immediate satisfaction of buying and taking home
and gift, and being able to touch and see the gifts
that they’re buying. But they’ll be heading to shops
well prepared – with over 1 in 4 writing a list and
2 in 3 researching their purchases before heading to
the shops.
Most will not start their Christmas shopping until the
start of November and the flurry of shopping in stores
will not end until the day before Christmas Eve.
Extended trading hours appear to be very appealing
to shoppers. So there’s plenty of time for advertisers
to get in on the Christmas gift buying frenzy!
Summary
Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study February 2015, I wrote a Christmas shopping list so additional items weren't purchased N=1424 & Did you use the internet to research Christmas purchases prior to going to the shops? N=671

14. Just like at Christmas time, we want to keep
the excitement going for as long as possible.
So there will be more Christmas research
coming out over the next few weeks.
Here’s what’s planned:
• Christmas Mood
• Online & Mobile Christmas shopping
• Kids & the Christmas spirit (and their
parents that buy heaps more!)
• The Last Minute Shopper
There’s more
Christmas
research
coming!