santa fun run australia
Thousands of runners in Father Christmas suits pose for a group photo after completing an annual Santa fun run from Darling Harbour to the Sydney Opera House Reuters/Jason Reed

Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year for Australians. This holds more truth for those in the retail industry. The Christmas season is officially here and shoppers are expected to buy millions of items from food, toys, clothes, and just anything that could be given as gifts.

While there are a lot to buy, many Australians are still asking what could be the best possible gifts to be given out this Christmas. Reports say that for this year, the most popular gifts include drones, wearable tech, cook books, watches, gift cards and memoirs.

For this Christmas season, Australians are expected to spend $28 billion on credit and charge and around $24.5 billion on debit purchases. There are also expected to be around 235 million credit transactions and 460 million debit transactions, says credit expert Mike Ebstein in a report by SMH.

Since Christmas day falls on a Sunday this year, Friday, December 23 is expected to be the busiest day. This is because this is when a lot of Australians are expected to do their last minute shopping and malls can accommodate them with longer shopping hours. Westfield says that it expects around 400,000 Christmas shoppers to be present in its stores in Victoria for that date.

While that could spell out total chaos, reports say that shoppers are more organized this year. Christmas sales commenced earlier and have continued for a longer period of time to accommodate more buyers. These new accommodations have made it more convenient and easier.

In Cairns, there is a different Christmas shopping trend that tends to accommodate those who want to showcase their cooking prowess for this season of giving and lots of eating. Kitchen gadgets and homemaking wares are the hottest Christmas gifts that have made it to almost every wish list for the season, writes the Cairns Post.

Those who want a personal touch have opted for hot items such as personalised Nutella jars and chocolates. In this part of the country, shopping centres are also prepared for the rush as they will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on some days in which a lot of shoppers are expected.

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