Christmas will begin early this year with 63% of Australian shoppers planning to buy gifts as early as September, according a survey by global advertising technology company The Trade Desk with YouGov.
The research shows the pace of shopping will start accelerating in October, continuing into mid-November.
James Bayes, The Trade Desk Australia and New Zealand general manager, says brands need to adapt to community sentiment.
“Last year’s domestic travel restrictions and the ongoing COVID uncertainty made planning difficult for marketer," he says.
"This year, consumers are telling us they will be spending more and spending early, so brands should be thinking about how to engage these shoppers now.
"Brands can achieve this with confidence through programmatic channels while retaining the flexibility to quickly respond to changing community sentiment."
The research reveals the top five categories where Australian shoppers will spend their money during the holiday season: groceries (57%), apparel and accessories (38%), toys, games, and collectibles (34%), health and personal care (31%) and makeup and fragrances (27%).
Online shopping is tipped to increase with 41% of online shoppers surveyed intending to make more online purchases this year.
Bayes says marketers need to embrace data-driven advertising for Christmas, which is gearing up to be the biggest online shopping season of all time.
"Developing data and media strategies now can determine the success of how well brands activate through the holiday season as lockdowns ease and consumer spending accelerates.
“By embracing data-driven advertising, marketers can access the tools that allow them to make faster decisions to reach consumers this year, as well as measure the performance of their media campaigns to help grow their businesses,” Bayes says.
Impulse spending is on the list this year – the research found that 77% of Australian shoppers describe themselves as “planners” when it comes to their purchasing behaviour, however 32% admitted they tend to make more impulse purchases during Christmas sales and promotions.
“While we know Australian shoppers are generally planners, the festive period and the new Covid dynamic is changing how advertisers thinking about the ways in which they effectively reach consumers," Bayes says.
The survey was conducted online by YouGov amongst a nationally representative sample of 1043 Australian adults, aged 18 and over, between September 2–6, 2021. All data was weighted by age, gender, and region to reflect the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.
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