spendathon that is underway in the days leading up to Christmas. Enticing shoppers into bricks-and-mortar stores to spend their hard-earned money during a cost-of-living crisis requires marketing teams to get creative, leveraging everything from giveaways to extended trading and entertainment. Here is what’s happening. Bali Christmas honeymoon Chadstone, Australia’s biggest shopping centre, anticipates hosting half a million visitors this week and 4.5 million visitors total over the holiday period. The shopping centre has joined in the Elf On The Shelf tradition, encouraging shoppers to spot the giant resident for a chance to win a trip to Bali. Chadstone centre manager Daniel Boyle told Inside Retail, “We have a multitude of offerings available to shoppers to make their Christmas shopping experience both full of festivities and seamless. Visitors can use the Chadstone app for live parking updates and best places to park. “We have our charity partner Starlight Foundation and the Australian Girls Choir in The Social Quarter daily from the 21st [to the] 23rd singing Christmas carols for donations, with all proceeds to go towards helping families in need of Christmas cheer through Starlight Foundation. Visitors can even join in the fun and join the daily search for Chadstone’s very own 3m tall Elf On The Shelf who has been popping up in a new location daily from December 1 [to] Christmas Eve.” Since October this year Chadstone has welcomed 15 new retailers covering everything from luxury goods with Harrolds and Canada Goose, to children with Allkinds and My Playroom, and everything in between, with the likes of Aje Athletica, Holly & Ivy, July, Cable, Fine Days, Tom Ford Beauty, House, OSIM, Goodee, Hoka, Wine More Cellars and YSL Beauty opening stores there. Last-minute spending spree Four weeks before Christmas is when 46 per cent of shoppers start spending, suggests Monash University research. Immediate family members will receive 88 per cent of these purchases, with just under a third of respondents planning to buy gifts for extended family members, and just shy of half of respondents also gifting to friends. Despite some not wanting to brave the crowds and chaos, physical stores remain the preferred means to shop for the holidays, and 80 per cent of shoppers will head to retail stores to do so. Clothing, footwear and accessories remain the most common presents to purchase, just ahead of gift cards, consumables and surprisingly, toys, games, books and stationery. Extended trading and the gift of life With most retailers offering extended trading this week to accommodate shoppers, Highpoint Shopping Centre will be keeping the lights on until 2 am this Saturday in addition to offering a $20 premium valet parking option, with complimentary hands-free shopping valet service in addition to onsite wrapping stations in support of the Australian Childhood Foundation. Last-minute shoppers best think twice before pulling an all-night shopathon as most centres and retailers are wrapping up trading at 6 pm Christmas Eve, which falls on a Sunday this year. Industry experts are advising shoppers to get in early to beat the crowds and avoid disappointment and utilise the extended trading hours to work with their schedule. Lifeblood will have a pop-up donation centre at Highpoint Shopping Centre every day until January 5, excluding Christmas and New Year’s Day, to accommodate those who would like to give the ultimate gift of life this Christmas. Food for thought Natalie Davis, managing director of Woolworths Supermarkets, shared with Inside Retail that Woolworths expects to sell 2.8 million kilos of cherries this year, with Christmas week alone representing 30 per cent of sales for the stone-fruit’s 100-day-long season. Australian wildlife are also expected to be fed well this year with a projected four million one-kilo bags of ‘Reindeer Carrots’ to be sold, resulting in $400,000 in donations to WIRES charity. Barbie has had a year to remember and Big W expects to sell 100,000 Barbie Dolls this year in addition to 10,000 kilometres of Christmas wrapping paper and over 100,000 Christmas trees. Amanda Lunn, commercial director at Big W, told Inside Retail, “We can’t forget the centrepiece of the season – Christmas trees. We’re anticipating that we’ll sell 118,000 Christmas trees this season. If we were to stack them all up, it would tower three times higher than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai!” Rewards programs assist the cost-of-living pinch Consumers are taking advantage of Woolworths’ Bank for Christmas program with a record 750,000 members opting in. They will save an average of $100 each. Carly Neubauer, co-founder and director of Elevate Loyalty, told Inside Retail, “Loyalty programs play a key role in enabling shoppers to secure a bargain, but incredibly, up to 80 per cent of shoppers are not taking advantage of these opportunities. They are not making the effort to consistently use their loyalty cards.” After strong retail sales numbers in November, retailers are going the extra mile to make the most of the final week of holiday shopping, but Tate Zanner, founder and head of growth at Insil Marketing, suggested to Inside Retail that, taking inflation into account, the projected $9 billion spendathon is merely 0.1 per cent higher than last year, with ultra-luxury brands expected to be most disappointed in sales this year. Google Trends data suggested that the eight top brands searched last week included Pandora, Country Road, Frank Green, Mimco, T2, Glasshouse, Surfstich and Lovisa.“Pandora exemplifies the trend of searching for middle-level brands that promise quality. Because its jewellery is modular, gifts can range in size – and cost – from very small to substantial,” Zanner said.“Surfstitch famously began in a humble garage and has become one of Australia’s most innovative e-commerce brands so far, achieving the difficult task of maintaining a top trend position in the hugely competitive fashion middle-market.”