Australian holiday shoppers are beginning their preparations earlier than ever, according to a new report from authentic user-generated content (UGC) and social commerce solutions provider, Bazaarvoice. About one-third of Australians (32%) begin their holiday shopping before the last quarter of the year, with 11% starting from April to July.
Despite the early starters, the 2024 Australian Holiday Shopping Season Behaviour Report shows that most Australians (68%) still conduct their holiday shopping between October and December, and 62% feel that showcasing holiday items before October is premature.
The data confirms that November is the most critical month, accounting for 28% of sales, closely followed by December (21%) and October (19%). This means marketers must carefully capture both early and peak-season shoppers.
Bazaarvoice APAC managing director, Kate Musgrove emphasised the importance of early planning and understanding consumer behaviour.
“Our data indicates that while it’s critical to start holiday campaign planning early, marketers must balance their strategies to avoid overwhelming consumers. Now is the time to refine your approach to capture the early birds while maintaining a strong presence throughout the holiday season.”
Over half of Australians (51%) plan to maintain their 2023 spending levels in 2024, while 26% intend to spend less. Australian consumers are intentional in shopping, with 38% searching for specific products and 22% targeting items from particular brands or retailers.
Physical stores remain the most popular starting point for holiday shopping in Australia (28%), followed by search engines (24%) and brand/retailer websites (24%). Social media and influencer-driven shopping are significantly less influential, with only 7% and 1% of Australians starting their shopping based on these channels, respectively.
As for the most impactful content format, Australians say video shines brightest when capturing their attention during the holiday season (37%). Shoppers prefer to watch videos that are one to five minutes long (30%), closely followed by videos that are one minute or less (26%).
Australian consumers are skeptical of influencer recommendations, with almost half (46%) distrusting them during the holiday season.
“Due to the holiday season not being a primary period for content creator recommendations to influence consumers, retailers need to work extra hard during this time to ensure any messaging shared on the brand’s behalf is authentic. Working with influencers that are genuine endorsers of the brand is one solution for swaying shopper trust,” Musgrove added.
In addition, Australians are more negatively impacted by AI-generated content, with over one-third (37%) expressing a somewhat negative impact on their purchasing decisions and 44% feeling it lacks a genuine touch.