Australians will spend almost $1.2 billion buying food and drink for their Christmas festivities in the days leading up to Christmas Day.
NAB customers alone will spend $171 million at supermarket checkouts and at their local butchers, grocery stores, and markets. This compares to around $151 million (and 2.9 million transactions) for the same time last year, a 13 per cent increase, with almost 3.2 million NAB debit and credit card transactions to be made, a 14 per cent increase.
“Australians love celebrating over food and drinks, especially at this time of year, and so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing customers spending up big at supermarkets and their local shops,” NAB Executive General Manager of Consumer Lending, Angus Gilfillan, said.
In the week leading up to Christmas, NAB customers in each state and territory are expected to spend:
| Total Transaction Value | Number of Transactions | |
| Victoria | $58 million | 1.11 million |
| New South Wales | $53 million | 0.96 million |
| Queensland | $34 million | 0.68 million |
| Western Australia | $14 million | 0.27 million |
| South Australia and Northern Territory | $9 million | 0.19 million |
| Tasmania | $2 million | 0.04 million |
“Everyone’s hitting the shops to buy ingredients for their Christmas feasts, so it’s going to be busy. If you have to make a trip to the shops, early morning or late evening will probably be your best bet to avoid the queues,” Mr Gilfillan said.
“Interestingly, unlike in previous years, we’ve seen customers shopping over longer periods of the day – with transaction volumes remaining very high up until 6pm. This is likely due to longer trading hours,” Mr Gilfillan said.
On Christmas Eve, 12:30pm will be the busiest time at the checkout. It’s expected that over $675 million will be spent nationally across all retailers, with over 11 million debit and credit card transactions to be made across the day.
