With Boxing Day sales now concluded attention is quickly turning to the broader post-Christmas period through to mid-January, with some concern that discount fatigue could weigh on shoppers in the New Year.

Australians are tipped to spend $17.9 billion to January 15^th this year, with Boxing Day kicking off post-holiday trading yesterday.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman, who compiled the data alongside Roy Morgan, said that the 2.9 per cent increase in post-Christmas sales this year is an indication that shoppers will be taking advantage of extended holiday hours in NSW.

“We anticipate consumers to continue taking advantage of the best retail sales of the year for the next two or three weeks, both in-store and online,” Zimmerman said.

NSW is expected to record 5.8 billion in post-Christmas sales this year, up 4.2 per cent on last year; while Victoria is expected to book $4.5 billion in sales, up 3.2 per cent on last year.

Western Australia is tipped to be comparatively weaker, with forecast growth of 0.39 per cent on $1.9 billion in sales.

The “other retailing” category is expected to grow the most during the period at 4 per cent to $2.5 billion in sales, while food retailing is forecast to account for $7.2 billion of total spend, growing 3.4 per cent.

Zimmerman said the growth in the other category is evidence that online players are having an increasingly large influence over traditional trading periods.

“With online shopping accounting for more than 7% of total retail sales and looking to account for 15% in the next five years we believe physical retailers will not be the only retailers to receive an increase in post-Christmas sales,”  Zimmerman said.