The Australian Retailers Associations says it expects to see the weakest Christmas spending in 11 years, with the bushfire crisis coming on top of already weak consumer spending.
Australian retailers are facing their worst Christmas shopping season since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago as fires burn across the country.Chief executive Russell Zimmerman says the smoke haze is keeping shoppers at homeThe bushfire crisis has come on top of already weak consumer spending as people save rather than spend their tax and interest rate cuts.
Russell Zimmerman, head of the Australian Retailers Association, said he expected to see the weakest Christmas spending in 11 years. "Talking to retailers, it's been a much softer lead-in to Christmas than we've seen in the past," he said. "We know when there's a lot of smoke haze around, consumers tend to bunker down and stay at home and they're not out spending money.
"But I think it's also fair to say that retail sales were affected by the Black Friday and Cyber Mondays sales that happened earlier in the month."
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