Australian shoppers are splashing big cash in the post-Christmas sales, but some small businesses say they are not feeling the love.
The week between Christmas and New Year is expected to generate $3.83 billion in spending nationally, up 4.4 per cent on last year, according to forecasts by the National Retailers Association.
Demand is being driven by Boxing Day discounts and the redemption of Christmas gift cards.
Diana Derek’s Canberra homewares store has been running at a loss since Christmas and she’s worried consumers have overlooked small businesses. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
But at Diana Derek’s Canberra homewares store and boutique Hive, sales have plummeted, and she has been running at a loss since Christmas.
“There’s been a massive drop off … we didn’t plan for that,” Ms Derek said.
“I assumed that it was just because everyone goes to the coast [after Christmas], but I went into the Canberra Centre and did see a lot of Canberrans shopping.
“Unfortunately, it does look like they’ve chosen the malls over the little businesses.“
Canberra Outlet Centre was packed with shoppers searching for a bargain on Boxing Day. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Her small store is unable to compete with the sweeping discounts offered by large retailers.
“People just get so overwhelmed with the word sale, [but] it doesn’t mean it’s quality — mainly what we see is quantity,” Ms Derek said.
The Canberran took over the shop six months ago with the hope of keeping the almost 30-year-old independent business running.
“You start wondering if you’ve done the right thing,” she said.
“It would be great if people kept supporting it because we won’t survive and we will get pushed out by the big guys.“
Ms Derek says if shoppers always overlook small businesses, they will soon disappear. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Sales a double-edged sword
Canberra Business Chamber chief executive Greg Harford said big sales periods like Black Friday and Boxing Day could be a double-edged sword.
“[They] can put real pressure on retailers,” Mr Harford said.
“[There’s] an opportunity there of course, because customers are out looking for bargains, but every discount a retailer offers is money off the bottom line and at the small end of retail in particular, margins are really, really narrow.
“The reality is for many small retailers, they’re never going to be able to compete with larger chains on sales — they’ll have to compete on service or range or offering.”
Greg Harford says small retailers can’t match the sales discounts of large outlet chains. (Supplied: Greg Harford)
While Mr Harford expected this year’s local Boxing Day figures to be stronger than 2024, he said Canberra was grappling with a “two-speed economy”.
“The best advice for retail customers is get out and support local businesses,” he said.
“We really do need to support them, otherwise there’s a risk that they will disappear.“
Making conscious choices
Tayanah O’Donnell doesn’t offer Boxing Day or Black Friday sales at her Canberra bookshop. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
At Canberra’s oldest independent bookshop, owner Tayanah O’Donnell has resisted the temptation to provide discounts to compete with the major retailers.
“We don’t offer Black Friday sales or Boxing Day sales or anything like that,”
she said.
“Occasionally you have those quiet moments late at night where you think, ‘perhaps we should this year succumb to offering a discount’, but it has been a deliberate choice.
“We just operate on the basis that people coming into the store will get the best possible book at the best possible price and we really pride ourselves on the experience of people coming into the store taking as long as they need to browse.”
Paperchain “will never replicate what the bigger stores are doing”, owner Tayanah O’Donnell says. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
While the store is quieter now than during the pre-Christmas rush, the business is still thriving.
In the face of rabid sales marketing, Ms O’Donnell encouraged shoppers to make conscious choices.
She said choosing to buy one perfect book was preferable over madly purchasing 10 that may never be read.
“There is something to be said for a slower, more thoughtful way in which we buy things, consume things, honour those things and pass them on to others,” she said.
“We’ll never try to replicate what the bigger stores are doing.
“We stick to our knitting, as my grandma would say.“
