Boxing Day in Australia 2017: Online spending tipped to reach $290M

Boxing Day 2017 is expected to see an increase of 45 percent as Amazon Australia records orders this Christmas. Paying through cards is tipped to be the number one payment method at Boxing Day online sales this year.

Australia’s Boxing Day, the counterpart of Black Friday in the United States, could see an increase this year, and the arrival of Amazon might have something to do with the jump. Leading data and analytics company GlobalData has released the findings of its latest consumer payments survey, which found that online spending on Australia’s largest annual sales day could be up to $290 million. The aforementioned amount is three times more compared to average online sales on any other day.

GlobalData’s Arnie Cho said it would be interesting to see how well Amazon’s Australian arm will contend for its share of Boxing Day 2017 sales in its first in Down Under. And for these transactions to be completed, various methods of payment would be used.

Preferred payment methods

Australian shoppers’ preferred payment method remains to be payment cards. Cho said it is estimated that more than 40 percent of Boxing Day 2017 online sales will be transacted through cards, which is still the favourite payment mode for e-commerce transactions in Australia.

There are other alternative payment methods, too. Other modes have gained acceptance on the back of increasing consumer demand for more convenient methods of conducting transactions. The need was felt by National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. These major banks in Australia have announced a partnership to come up with their own mobile wallet called Beem.

“With retailers integrating their loyalty programs with mobile wallets, digital wallets are likely to continue to gain market share,” Cho, a payments division senior analyst, said. He added PayPal could capture up to one-fifth of Boxing Day 2017 online payment transactions.

Apple Pay, on the other hand, is expected to gain a relatively small share. Cho said the only huge player in Australia that is now working with Apple Pay is ANZ, which could hamper Apple Pay’s chances of making inroads Boxing Day Sales 2017.

As for technologies and devices used for shopping online this Boxing day, the preferred channels will be desktops and laptops. However, the number of Aussie shoppers using their computers to shop is expected to drop as more people use their mobile devices.