Christmas trade will be well below the expectations of Australian retailers this year, according to the executive director of the Australian Retailers Association, Russel Zimmerman.
Zimmerman said that shoppers will spend almost $39 million this Christmas, but will be more cautious with their money.
“We think the Christmas trading will be up but we don’t think it will be up as much as it could have been,” he said.
“I would just simply say to retailers ‘Get out there, work hard, work your customer, know that there are customers out their spending money, and that they will be in your stores during this next three days’,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jaye Radisich, CEO of COSBOA is urging shoppers to “think small” this Christmas and embrace small business retailers.
“Spending a dollar with a small business this Christmas will help support the nearly two million small businesses that are responsible for creating 4.5 million jobs in Australia,” she said.
