Most Australians are super organised with Christmas shopping and have already purchased all their gifts. Who knew? New research has revealed that 9 in 10 Aussies have already done their Christmas shopping, with just 11 per cent leaving their shopping to December and only 4 per cent leaving it to the week before Christmas.
The findings come from a survey of an independent, nationally representative panel of 1021 Australians commissioned by parcel delivery service CouriersPlease (CP).
In the survey, CP asked respondents when they purchased their Christmas gifts in 2017, and when they expect to purchase their gifts in 2018. CP was expecting the results to reveal a majority of Australians leaving their gift shopping to the last minute, but found the opposite was true.
When asked about their gift shopping last year, nearly 9 in 10 (88 per cent) respondents said they had started purchasing their Christmas gifts by the end of the first week of December. Forty-one (41) per cent began purchasing their gifts before November. Seventy-two (72) per cent began their gift shopping before December.
When survey respondents were asked about their gift shopping this year, 92 per cent indicated they would begin at least three weeks out from Christmas. Eighty (80) per cent had already started their shopping before December.
To CP’s surprise only three (3) per cent of Aussies think they’ll leave Christmas shopping to the last minute this year – starting from the third week of December right until Christmas Eve. While the results reveal that the majority of Aussies don’t leave gift shopping until the last minute, 70 per cent of Aussies think they leave their gift shopping a little late for various reasons.
The most common reason isn’t a lack of organisation (the reason chosen by 19 per cent of respondents). But, the most common reason was not knowing what to buy – chosen by 30 per cent of respondents. A further 19 per cent said they were too busy with work commitments and life. The findings also reveal that one in three (30 per cent) Aussies claim they feel they never leave their gift shopping a little late.
“It’s interesting to see the changing Christmas shopping habits of Aussies, in that they’re starting earlier than the industry would generally expect. We think this change has come about due to the increase in online shopping and retailers participating in global shopping events such as Click Frenzy, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Aussies are likely purchasing their gifts online around this time to take advantage of shopping deals and save money for Christmas. It’s also a great way to mitigate last-minute purchases and allow time for deliveries and online returns or exchanges,” said Jessica Ip, spokesperson at CP.
“Many retailers are helping shoppers get organised by providing Christmas cut-off dates for online gift orders to ensure parcels arrive in time for Christmas. This is the busiest time of year for parcel delivery companies.
“For those who are making last-minute purchases, particularly online, we encourage them to take advantage of flexible delivery choices. CP offers a network of more than 3,500 POPStation parcel lockers and 1,000 POPShop retail outlets around the country. This enables customers and businesses to collect or send items securely outside of normal business hours, at a time that’s convenient to them. We also offer the option to provide authority to leave or nominate a neighbour in case the receiver isn’t home to sign for a parcel.”
