Australians start Christmas shopping at Black Friday

Shopfully has released survey data showing most Australians prefer to buy holiday gifts in-store after researching deals online. The findings suggest Black Friday is increasingly becoming the starting point for Christmas shopping.

The survey of 300 Australian consumers found that 60% prefer to buy holiday gifts in physical stores, while 33% shop online and in-store equally. Just 7% prefer to buy online.

Digital catalogues and leaflet platforms were the most common source of festive deals and gift ideas, cited by 34% of respondents. That placed them ahead of brand or retailer websites, apps and marketplaces at 29%, printed leaflets or catalogues at 28%, and in-store browsing at 24%. Social media was cited by 12%.

The results suggest shoppers are using online tools to plan purchases before visiting stores, with digital research playing an early role while physical retail remains the main place where transactions are completed.

"Shoppers are doing their homework digitally, then heading to the store to buy," said Brendan Straw, Country Manager, Shopfully Australia.

"For retailers, the festive season is won or lost in that handover. If your offer isn't visible while shoppers are planning, it's much harder to earn a place in the trolley when they walk through the door," Straw said.

Black Friday shift

The survey also found that one-third of respondents described themselves as "Deal Hunters" who treat Black Friday as the point at which they begin Christmas shopping. That was the largest shopper group in the research, ahead of "Planners", who start by October and accounted for 23%. Another 9% said they were last-minute shoppers who rarely begin before mid-December.

Some consumers said they were delaying purchases in anticipation of discounts. Among those who answered that question, 38% said they had postponed buying food and beverages in the hope of a festive sale, followed by clothing, shoes and accessories at 31%, and both children's products and toys and home goods at 26%.

The survey also showed a gap between Black Friday budgets and broader Christmas budgets. Of those who answered the budget question, 44% said they plan to spend AUD $300 or more on Christmas overall, including 26% who expect to spend more than AUD $500. By comparison, 23% said they plan to spend AUD $300 or more on Black Friday, while a further 26% said they had no fixed Christmas budget.

That suggests shoppers may be using Black Friday to begin seasonal spending while reserving larger amounts for Christmas purchases across the wider festive period.

"A third of shoppers treating Black Friday as the start of Christmas shows how much the event has become a planning window, not just a bargain hunt," Straw said.

"Shoppers are prepared to wait for the right price, so retailers need to be visible early, make their promotions easy to find, and give people a reason to come in-store," he said.

AI use

The data also pointed to a limited but growing role for artificial intelligence in shopping decisions. More than a quarter of respondents, 28%, said they are using or considering AI tools to compare prices and find deals, while 8% said they would use them for personalised gift ideas.

At the same time, 43% said they prefer to handle holiday shopping tasks themselves. The figures suggest consumers are more willing to use AI for price comparison than for choosing presents, at least for now.

Shopfully, which works with retailers and brands across 25 countries, said the findings were based on responses collected through its app in October. The question bases varied, with 262 responses for deal-finding and AI use, 242 for budgets, and 188 for delayed purchases.

Overall, the survey points to a retail environment in which online discovery and in-store buying continue to operate side by side, with Black Friday increasingly shaping the timing of Christmas shopping and discount expectations among Australian consumers.