The lie that Kiwis are telling themselves this Christmas

A small portion of Kiwis say they will do their Christmas shopping in stores this year. Photo / 123RF

New research shows the shops are not where most Kiwis intend to be shopping in the lead up to Christmas - but analysts expect that is where they will end up.

A survey conducted by accounting software firm MYOB reveals that just 15 per cent of Kiwis plan to do all of their Christmas shopping in physical shops this year.

Three quarters of the 1000 New Zealanders surveyed for the MYOB Business Monitor Consumer Snapshot survey said they intended to shop online for Christmas gifts this year.

Just over 70 per cent of Kiwis said they expect to do some of their Christmas shopping online, while 33 per cent said they expected to stay far away from heaving malls and instead shop online to avoid traffic, crowds and save money.

About 40 per cent of those surveyed said they believed buying product online was cheaper than shopping in-store, but Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford says that was not necessarily the case.

And Harford said he expected more than just 15 per cent of Kiwis to hit the shops in the lead up to the big day as many would flock to the shops at the last minute.

"We would expect more people than that to hit the shops over the next week or so before Christmas. But it is consistent with an ongoing trend towards online shopping," Harford told the Herald.

"Consumers do like shopping online, they appreciate the convenience of it, and particularly when it is really busy in shops. We'll definitely still see people in stores, people like the experience of being in stores and as we get closer to Christmas it will be harder and harder for people to get their [online] goods delivered."

New Zealand's online sales grew by 16 per cent compared with 2 per cent in store last year.

Almost 9 per cent of all retail spending was conducted online, according to Retail NZ, with consumers spending an average of 43 per cent of gross annual income in the sector.

Each New Zealander spends on average $22,273 each year, with about $4000 of that spent in supermarkets and grocery stores.

While there were a small number of Kiwis who chose to only shop in stores, Harford said most Kiwis shopped across both online and in stores. He said massive growth in online shopping would continue and growth in bricks and mortar would dry up in coming years.

Earlier in the year MYOB found that about 4 per cent of New Zealanders shop exclusively online and over 60 per cent shop equally online and in shops.

Fewer people say they intend to hit the shops this shopping season. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Colleen Ryan, partner of consumer behaviour and insights agency TRA, said she expected a much higher proportion of New Zealanders to end up doing all of their Christmas shopping in physical stores this year.

"One of the problems with shopping online is you do have to get ahead of the dispatch curve and people, particularly in rural areas - almost defined as the South Island, people are looking at delays in delivery times, so unless they have got ahead of the game, there will be a bit of the last minute in-store shopping," Ryan said.

Kiwis were for the most part organised shoppers, and extremely bargain-driven, but at this time of the year, a lot of shopping tended to be spontaneous, she said.

Colleen Ryan, TRA partner. Photo / Supplied

"We like things on sale, on promotion, so Kiwis tend to do a lot of price comparisons or wait for sales that they know are going to happen, such as the routine Briscoes sale.

"There is this idea that online shopping is going to be helpful and convenient so they'll do it that way, but people still have to do it - and if they haven't done it yet then they're probably going to have to go out to a store."

Ryan said she believed the 15 per cent of those intending to shop only in physical shops this year was a "massive under-estimate", and she expected the actual number to be significantly higher.

"The way we think we behave and actually behave are usually very different.

"I think a lot of last-minute shopping is around people not having to make an advanced decision and hoping to get inspiration, and so even where things are displayed in stores is often very important."

Shoppers 'fight' for last product on the shelf

Convenience was found to be the main reason Kiwis said they would opt to shop online instead of shops in MYOB's survey, followed by to avoid queues and crowds. The perception that product was cheaper online was also a motivator.

The ability to take items home immediately, reliable customer service and more secure transactions were motivators for shopping by traditional means, it found.

Ryan said New Zealand shoppers were so bargain-orientated that they were willing to fight for the last product on the shelf.

"New Zealanders don't like to pay full price, and there's a culture and expectation that it will be on sale tomorrow, and that's why I think a lot of last-minute shopping happens as well."