Australian shoppers are tipped to spend $10.5 billion on mid-year/end-of-financial-year (EOFY) sales - up $400 million or 3.9% from 2024 - as retailers showcase their mid-year promotions to entice cash-strapped shoppers. The annual research was released today by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan.
ARA Chief Industry Affairs Officer Fleur Brown said mid-year/EOFY sales provide an excellent opportunity for shoppers to find great deals on big-ticket and seasonal items or make tax-deductible purchases.
"The sales have already begun," she said. "Retailers have reduced prices on a wide selection of clothes, shoes, accessories, homewares, furniture and electronics, and it's a terrific opportunity for shoppers to find great deals for winter.
"Many savvy shoppers are on the lookout for work-related products to claim on their tax return. This is making computers, phones, and other technology highly sought after."
The most popular categories this year are clothing, footwear and accessories (mentioned by 34% of respondents), household appliances and white goods (mentioned by 19% of respondents), and electronics and tech (mentioned by 12% of respondents).
Ms Brown said the mid-year/EOFY sales are especially important for retailers this year, given the slowdown in discretionary spending.
"Given market volatility and persisting headwinds, these sales present an opportunity for retailers to stimulate growth as they begin to recover from the protracted spending downturn.
"Household budgets have been under significant strain and the mid-year/EOFY sales are a great opportunity for shoppers to get great value for money."
"Interestingly, the percentage of people planning to spend online is down 11 percentage points on last year to 44%. This may indicate people are planning to hit the stores more this year for bigger-ticket bargains."
"The research from the ARA in collaboration with Roy Morgan found more than a quarter of Australians (26% or 6.1 million) will participate in the sales - virtually unchanged on a year ago."
However, of those who intend to shop in the EOFY sales, 37% plan on spending more than last year, 42% plan on spending the same, and 21% plan on spending less. Overall, the average mid-year/EOFY shopper will spend an extra $76 this year, up 4.6% to $1,714.
Shoppers aged under 35 are again set to be the biggest spenders with an average spend of $2,065, and an overall spend of $4.3 billion. This is also the largest group of spenders with 2.1 million people in this age group taking advantage of the EOFY sales.
Men plan to spend at a greater rate than women, with men set to spend an average of $2,044 compared to $1,430 for women. This leads to overall spending of $5.8 billion for men and $4.7 billion for women.
More Australians this year are planning to spend in each of the three higher spending categories - and the most popular is for spending from $1,000-$4,999 - mentioned by 36% of people taking part in the EOFY sales (up 15% from a year ago).
Additionally, 11% (up 5%) of people taking part say they will spend $5,000 or more while 22% (up 1%) say they plan to spend from $500-$999. In contrast, fewer people are planning to spend less than $500 - now 31% (down 21% from a year ago).
