CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – AUSTRALIA

Mother’s Day love: fewer Aussies spending more

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Original article by
Australian Retailers Association – Page: Online : 7-May-25

A survey by the Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan has found that 30 per cent of Australians are set to celebrate Mother’s Day in 2025, which equates to seven million people. This is 2.7 million fewer people than in 2024, although the projected average spend is up from $102 last year to $141. In total, Australians are expected to spend $1 billion on Mother’s Day this year, which is virtually unchanged from a year ago despite tighter household budgets. Some 37% of respondents say flowers will be their gift of choice, while 20 per cent will opt for food and beverages. Other popular gifts include gift vouchers (10%), personal care items (10%), clothing and shoes (9%) and house-related gifts such as homewares and gardening hardware (7%). The ARA’s Fleur Brown says that special spending events like Mother’s Day help to keep the retail sector resilient.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Climate crisis could kill off Australian music festivals, report warns

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Original article by Kelly Burke
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 30-Apr-25

Research has concluded that music festivals will no longer be viable unless they adapt to climate change. Green Music Australia interviewed 1,155 people who had attended live music events and music festivals in four states. About 33 per cent of respondents indicated that they now check weather forecasts before deciding to buy tickets to a live music event, while a similar proportion said they would avoid attending a music festival if the temperature was forecast to reach 35C. Catherine Strong from RMIT University says the research helps to explain the growing trend for music fans to delay purchasing tickets until the last minute. However, poor early ticket sales have forced some music festivals to be cancelled in recent years.

CORPORATES
GREEN MUSIC AUSTRALIA, RMIT UNIVERSITY

Australians’ overseas travel wanderlust continues to grow despite low levels of consumer confidence

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Apr-25

The latest Roy Morgan data shows that 23% of Australians plan to travel overseas in the next 12 months, up from 16% in October 2022 when final pandemic-era restrictions on travel were lifted. Travel intentions have bounced back since October 2022, despite low levels of consumer confidence. Australians embarked on 11.5 million overseas trips during the 2024 calendar year, rebounding to above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Looking month-on-month, in January 2024, the number of trips were back to 2019 levels and by January 2025 trips were up 11% on January 2024. It is important to note that the growth in trips was largely driven by population growth, so on a ‘per capita basis’ overseas travel has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, 57% of Australians are planning a domestic trip in the next 12 months (up from 52% a year ago).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Private Health Insurance Switching: HCF, Bupa, and ahm see biggest customer growth

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Feb-25

Data from Roy Morgan shows that despite rising cost-of-living pressures, most Australians are maintaining private health insurance rather than opting out, but they are switching. As of December 2024, over half of Australians aged 14+ (57.2%) hold a private health insurance policy – equivalent to approximately 12.9 million people. This represents steady growth over the past five years, rising from 52.9% in December 2020 to 57.2% in December 2024. Some 6.8% of private health insurance policies were switched to another company in the year to December 2024, while 17.9% were renewed after approaching another company. In total, close to one in four (24.6%) people looked for a better health insurance policy deal, up from 22.3% in the previous year. HCF, Bupa and ahm have been the biggest winners from customer switching in the past 12 months, benefiting from their reputation for competitive pricing. In contrast, Medibank Private saw the largest customer loss due to switching.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, THE HOSPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS FUND OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BUPA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AHM HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL

Australians who get most of their news from social media more likely to believe in climate conspiracy, study finds

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 29-Jan-25

Research undertaken by Monash University has found that people who use social media as their main source of news score lower on a measure of ‘civic values’ than those who rely on newspapers and non-commercial media for news and current affairs. The researchers also found that 25 per cent of respondents who primarily use social media for news content believe that climate change is a conspiracy. This compares with 37 per cent of those who use commercial TV and radio as their main source of news. In contrast, just six per cent of people who largely source their news content from public TV networks the ABC and SBS consider climate change to be a conspiracy.

CORPORATES
MONASH UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

Aussies to spend $2.7 billion as students head Back to School

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Jan-25

Research by the Australian Retailers Association, in partnership with Roy Morgan, reveals that 5.1 million Australians aged 18+ (24%) will spend an average of $525 each on Back to School-related merchandise in 2025. This is up from an average of $512 in 2024. BTS purchases are projected to generate around $2.7 billion in sales – this is $150 million (5.9%) higher than last year’s BTS spending, driven by population growth and inflation. Of those surveyed, 44% of Australians making BTS purchases said they would be spending more than last year, while 23% said they would spend the same and 33% said they would be spending less. The most popular purchases will be stationary (mentioned by 55% of respondents), school uniforms (53%), footwear (50%), books (40%) and lunchboxes or water bottles (27%). Women remain the main household decision maker on BTS purchases with 74% of purchases, followed by men at 14%, guardians at 6% and students themselves at 2%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Aussies to spend $2.7 billion as students head Back to School

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Jan-25

Research by the Australian Retailers Association, in partnership with Roy Morgan, reveals that 5.1 million Australians aged 18+ (24%) will spend an average of $525 each on Back to School-related merchandise in 2025. This is up from an average of $512 in 2024. BTS purchases are projected to generate around $2.7 billion in sales – this is $150 million (5.9%) higher than last year’s BTS spending, driven by population growth and inflation. Of those surveyed, 44% of Australians making BTS purchases said they would be spending more than last year, while 23% said they would spend the same and 33% said they would be spending less. The most popular purchases will be stationary (mentioned by 55% of respondents), school uniforms (53%), footwear (50%), books (40%) and lunchboxes or water bottles (27%). Women remain the main household decision maker on BTS purchases with 74% of purchases, followed by men at 14%, guardians at 6% and students themselves at 2%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Aussies face $2.7 billion Christmas debt hangover

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Original article by Hannah Kennelly
The Age – Page: Online : 8-Jan-25

Research by consumer comparison site Finder shows that eight per cent of Australians had expected to go into debt during the 2024 Christmas holiday season. This equates to about 1.7 million people; the survey also found that about 20 per cent of them will take at least six months to repay this debt. The Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan in turn had estimated that consumers would spend $69.8 billion in the lead-up to Christmas, with the average shopper expected to spend $707 on gifts. The ARA and Roy Morgan also estimate that Australian consumers spent $1.3 billion on Boxing Day, and a total of $3.7 billion in the six days after Christmas.

CORPORATES
FINDER.COM.AU, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, ROY MORGAN LIMITED

News Publishing reaches 21.8 million Australians with engagement across multiple brands

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Nov-24

The latest Total News Publishing readership figures from Roy Morgan show that news now reaches 21.8 million Australians aged 14+ each month, and 18.4 million every week. The Roy Morgan data underscores the depth and diversity of Australians’ engagement with news; some 93 per cent of Australians read up to five news brands every month, 63% engage with at least three categories in any given month and 51% engage with four or more news brands. However, General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population. These figures shine a light on the variety of news publishing content and the passions of highly engaged and attentive audiences that advertisers can tap into. The Total News Publishing audience data is based on monthly readership averaged over the 12 months to September 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Young Australians cut back in cost-of-living crisis while older people shop more, data shows

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Original article by Catie McLeod
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Nov-24

Analysis of the de-identified payments of about seven million Commonwealth Bank customers has revealed that 18- to 29-year-olds reduced their spending in the September quarter by 2% when compared to the same period in 2023. Spending by people aged between 30 and 39 was also down when compared to the same period in 2023, but spending by people aged 60 to 69 was up by 3.9% overall, while over-70s increased their spending by 7.7%. Wade Tubman from the CBA said the differences in spending between younger and older Australians was in contrast to the period immediately after the pandemic, when younger people were quicker to start going out and spent more than older people.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA