Retail Study Picks LeapFrog, Vtech as Popular Toys for Christmas Shopping

It will be another bleak season for Australia's retail industry this Christmas, according to a study by IBISWorld released on Tuesday.

Christmas spending will just go up 3.3 per cent from last year, while the Aussie consumer will spend only an average of $1,213.22 for the yearend Yuletide holiday. Another 34 per cent plan to spend less than they did in 2010 and less than 20 per cent plan to spend more, said Karen Dobie, general manager for Australia of IBISWorld.

To help retailers cope with the shrinking Christmas spending budgets of Australians, Ms Dobie suggested making available more clothing, footwear, electronics and books through their online portals.

She pointed out that Aussies may scrimp on gifts for older friends and relatives, but would still likely buy toys as Christmas gifts for their children. However, Ms Dobie said that today's kids are less interested in traditional toys and prefer electronic playthings.

She identified high-tech toys such as LeapFrog and Vtech as among the likely bestsellers for the 2011 Christmas season.

The LeapFrog is a $100 iPad-style tablet computer for school-age children. Due to the high demand for the item, industry analysts predict it could become scarce as Christmas approaches.

Besides the LeapFrog, the Toronto Star reports that other best selling toys for the Yuletide season are the Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game, Xia Xia Hermit Crabs and BeyBlade Metal Masters.

Older consumers would also prefer receiving gizmos such as the iPod Touch, Nintendo 3DS, iPad 2 and e-readers for the Yuletide holidays

With these trends, she forecast clothing and footwear sales would rise by only 2 per cent, while Christmas fare would shift towards seafood and leaner meat choices such as poultry as more Australians become more health conscious.

Ms Dobie also forecast a return of fresh fruits such as bananas and mangos to the Christmas table, although she foresees lower prices due to bumper harvest of these fruit from the Northern Territory and Queensland.

"Overall, we expect Australian businesses to spend $491 million on Christmas gifts and parties for staff and clients - up a healthy 9.2 per cent on last year but well below the $684 million splashed out in 2007," Ms Dobie said.