E-commerce

Aussie shoppers feeling the holiday shopping rush

As the holiday shopping season draws near, a new report from CPM Australia revealed that while 89 per cent plan to both shop online and visit brick-and-mortar shops, 69 per cent of people said that online marketplaces were still their preferred choice for gift buying.

Overall, shoppers are not keen to slow down their spending ahead of Christmas, despite the current economy. Related research by courier service CouriersPlease highlighted this online shopping rush as 53 per cent of Australian online shoppers are looking to spend ahead for the holidays during the pre-Christmas sales trifecta of Click Frenzy, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.

Early holiday shopping

In fact, 35 per cent said they would do their holiday shopping as early as November during Black Friday, while 21 per cent said they would hold off until mid-December, 11 per cent will buy during Click Frenzy and seven per cent during Cyber Monday.

CouriersPlease CEO Richard Thame commented that the survey results were a testament to the success of Click Frenzy, Black Friday and Cyber Monday among Australian consumers.

“The proximity of these back-to-back sales events to Christmas, their deep discounts, and their extended durations – with Black Friday lasting up to two weeks – have proven to be a winning formula for retailers,” Thame said. “The sales enable retailers to capture a large share of Christmas spending in November.

“With consumers likely to have smaller Christmas shopping budgets in December, retailers would be wise to target their Black Friday sales to Christmas gift buyers to successfully compete for a share of wallet,” he added.

Thame added that the popularity of these pre-Christmas sales will continue to grow even as cost-of-living pressures continue. In fact, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to June 2024 with the most significant increases being in housing, food, clothes and footwear.

Potential risks for retailers

But while this may seem good news for SMEs as they seek to augment their cashflow for the holidays, the report pointed out that they should be wary of potential risks.  

“This is the busiest time of year for retailers, and it’s easy to forget about things like renewing insurance or purchasing new policies,” said Brad Miller, General Manager at BizCover, Australia’s number one business insurance service. “With more and more people turning to online shopping, this could present increased risks for e-commerce SMEs.” 

One risk that has been identified is the collection, transmission, and storage of customer payment details which are valuable data for cybercriminals. However, many SMEs don’t think they are at risk, despite making up an estimated 43 per cent of cyberattacks in Australia according to one study.   

“No business owner wants to think about shutting up shop during the busiest trading period of the year because a cyberattack has completely disrupted business,” said Miller. “Cyber insurance can help protect SMEs in the case of a cyberattack or a data breach, including connecting them with 24/7 incident response services to help them contain damage and get back up and running as quickly as possible.” 

“Retailers have good reason to be optimistic about the upcoming shopping season. But it pays to review and update your insurance to make sure you’re properly covered. This gives you peace of mind that you’re protected during the busiest trading period – and all year long,” he concluded. 

This story was originally published on Inside Small Business