Aussies flock online for Christmas gifts in 2020

Nearly half of Aussies surveyed say that they plan on ditching the annual Christmas pilgrimage to retail stores in favour of shopping online this month. At Reviews.org, we wanted to know if the COVID-19 pandemic would affect Aussies’ decisions to shop for their Christmas gifts, either due to health concerns or financial reasons.

48% of those in our survey say that they will mostly shop online for Christmas this year, with just over 1 in 2 saying they shop online more in 2020 than they did in 2019. Concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic play a role, with around 40% saying it affects their decisions when shopping.

About 1 in 4 Aussies who said they shopped in-store last year say they plan to switch to mostly shopping for gifts online. This despite 57% of all respondents saying that were concerned about packages being lost, damaged or stolen in transit.

Cost is also a significant factor this year, with 43% saying they plan to take advantage of pre-Christmas online sales like Click Frenzy and Black Friday. A similar number of respondents say they plan on buying fewer gifts and will spend less money than in previous years.

This could be further evidence of the way that COVID has impacted on our approach to the holidays, with government stimulus winding down and a number of households facing economic uncertainty in early 2021.

Though it is also likely that people make a similar resolution before shopping for gifts at Christmas each year, only to find they spend more than intended.

We surveyed 1,000 Australians about their thoughts and opinions regarding shopping for Christmas gifts in 2020, then analyzed the results to create this report.