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1. C h r i s t m a s S h o p p i n g I n s i g h t s | S C A R e s e a r c h
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If this Christmas is anything like the last, Australians will
spend in excess of $48 billion in the five weeks between
mid-November and Christmas Day.
Whether we want to or not, many of us get caught up in the
Christmas hype and spend on gifts, holidays, and
entertaining family and friends.
With almost all SCA listeners planning on buying Christmas
presents this year, let’s look at the key insights into their
shopping behaviour.
Source : http://retail.org.au/news-posts/australian-shoppers-to-spend-48-1-billion-this-christmas/ & SCA
Research Post Xmas Study, January 2016, Did you buy any Christmas gifts for Christmas 2016? N=1433

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Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study, January 2017 Did you buy any Christmas gifts
for Christmas 2016? N=1433, I spent more than I intended to this Christmas : Agree
N=1433 Before Christmas, many people had an idea in mind of how much they would
spend on presents. However, we know it’s hard to stick to a set amount! So – how much did
you intend to spend on Christmas presents and how much did you actually spend? N=1362

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People shop online at Christmas for the
convenience, to access goods not available in
normal stores and to avoid crowds. Saving money
is more important for males than for females
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Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, Before Christmas, many people had an idea in mind
of how much they would spend on presents. However, we know it’s hard to stick to a set amount! So – how
much did you intend to spend on Christmas presents and how much did you actually spend? N=1362
Try as they might to stick to a
budget, the SCA radio audience
spends more than what they intend
to on Christmas presents each year.
So cutting down on spending might
be the intention this Christmas, but
it’s likely they will actually end up
spending more than they planned to.

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Source:SCAResearch,PostXmasStudyJanuary2017,WhattypesofgiftsdidyoupurchaseforpeopleatChristmas?N=1362
63%
55%
52%
40% 39%
36% 34%
28% 28%
20% 18% 16% 14%
5% 5%

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Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study January 2016 and January 2017, What
types of gifts did you purchase for people at Christmas? 2015 N=2150 2016 N=1362

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Mums are buying a greater number and variety of gifts
than other segments. They seem to get caught up in
the buying frenzy – with half of them saying they
spent more than they intended to last Christmas.
Clothes and toys are still the most sort after gifts,
however beauty products (+20%) and money (+21%)
have increased in popularity year on year.
7Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study January 2016, ‘I spent more than I intended to this Christmas’ :
Agree; What types of gifts did you purchase for people at Christmas? Females with children N=343
81% 77%
55% 52% 49%
41%
35% 34% 33%
24% 16% 15% 15% 6% 5%

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More than half of people gave gift cards last Christmas, which is typically
considered a pretty impersonal gift (although not quite as bad as giving
cash – which over 1 in 4 people did).
Given that around 7 in 10 Australians receive at least one unwanted gift a
year, returned unwanted Christmas gifts came to the tune of $620 million
last year, so this is obviously a very real concern for shoppers.
Giving a gift card also provided the opportunity for the recipient to take
advantage of the post-Christmas sales – to get more bang for their buck.
So when are people shopping?
Source:SCAResearch,PostXmasStudyJanuary2016,
WhattypesofgiftsdidyoupurchaseforpeopleatChristmas?
N=1362&http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/12/19/what-
to-do-with-those-unwanted-christmas-gifts_a_21630772/

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Our research has suggested a shift over the past few years
from starting shopping early, to leaving it closer and closer
to Christmas Day.
Although there are still those that start early, most people
don’t start until November. Online shopping understandably
drops off by December, while last minute shoppers still head
to the store right up until Christmas Eve.
In saying this, the mad dash to the shops in the first weeks
of December has dropped significantly year on year, with
more people beginning their shopping prior to November.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, And again thinking about Christmas gifts, when did
you start LOOKING for Christmas gifts in 2016 and when did you actually start PURCHASING presents?
N=1362 & I did the majority of my Christmas shopping outside of 'peak' shopping hours : Agree N=1433
8%
5%
4%
7%
11%
24%
15%
8%
11%
6%
3% 3%
7%
13%
21%
12%
4%
2%
Before July July August September October November 1st week of
December
2nd week of
December
3rd week of
December
KEY
IN STORE ONLINE

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In store shopping is still more popular. It appears that people like to be able to see and touch
products before they buy them and not have to wait for the product to be shipped.
Source: SCA Research, Post Xmas Study January 2017, ‘Where did you end up doing your Christmas shopping? N=1362 & So you said that you did
some of your Christmas shopping online. A little more specifically, what percentage of your CHRISTMAS shopping do you think you did in store and
on-line? N=583

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Source : SCA Research, Post Xmas Study January 2016, Did you use the internet to research Christmas purchases prior to
going to the shops? : Yes N=1362 & Based on your experiences with online shopping/research in the past year, do you think
you will increase your usage of the internet to enable you to do any of the following next Christmas? : Research
products/services before going to the shops N=583

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What it boils down to is that SCA listeners really get into the
gift buying spirit, with almost all of them buying gifts.
They’ll be buying a variety of gifts and while plenty of people
will be researching their purchases online, many will still be
hitting the shops. Online will hit its peak in November while the
physical stores will see action right up until Christmas Eve.
SCA listeners will be well prepared when they do hit the
stores, with over 1 in 3 writing a list and almost
2 in 3 researching their purchases before heading to the
shops.
Most will not start their Christmas shopping until the start of
November and the flurry of shopping in stores will not end until
the day before Christmas Eve. Extended trading hours appear
to be very appealing to shoppers. So there’s plenty of time for
advertisers to get in on the Christmas gift buying frenzy!

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The results of this survey are “INDICATIVE” ONLY.
The survey was conducted by Southern Cross Austereo using its
online panel nationally, an external panel to make sure it is market
wide, and CATI in regional Australia.
The SCA panel is obtained from our radio networks database under
the labels of ‘VIP’ on the Hit Network and ‘The Club’ on the MMM
Network. All members of these databases would be considered
listeners to these stations.
The database contains about 260,000 members. Of these,
approximately 16,000 are a part of our online community. This is
split between the Hit VIP database and the Triple M database.
Members of both databases were asked to take part in the study
and over 1,400 people did so. Certain questions asked for an
‘essay’ or ‘verbatim’ type of response OR brands/words that first
came to mind.
A keyword search was used to sort and rank the responses to
these questions.
The results are an un-weighted sample, but are reflective of the
Southern Cross Austereo Austereo audience. SCA brands
reach approximately 40% of the 10+ population and
approximately 46% of the 25-54 population in the five
metropolitan markets in Australia, suggesting it would be
reasonable to consider these results to be a fair if not fully
balanced representation of the opinions in these marketplaces.
Furthermore, as it is an online survey, the respondents would
also be skewed towards being ‘early adopters’ for technology,
‘trend setters’ in general and likely to be a good early indication
of brand leaders, trend setters and early adopters in general.
These research surveys conducted by Austereo are done so to
provide a general understanding of the opinions, interests and
attitudes of the metropolitan marketplaces only.