With Christmas approaching very quickly here is something to think about as you go out and complete your Christmas shopping. In the financial year to June 2015, 16.5 million Australians 14+ (85%) shopped at one or more shopping centres in an average four week period. Chadstone was the top destination, with 396,000 Australians a month just ahead of Westfield Parramatta with 385,000. “1 in 10 Melburnians shop at Chadstone in a four week period, and another 30,000 or so of the centre’s Australian customers live further afield in Victoria or interstate.” Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research commented.
Top 20 Shopping Centres
Levine pointed out that rounding out the top five shopping centres by their average four-week customer volume are Melbourne Central (307,000), Westfield Chermside in Brisbane (303,000) and—just 15km north of Chadstone—Westfield Doncaster (290,000).
Levine added that Melbourne is home to eight of the top 20 shopping centres overall, with Highpoint, Northland, Bourke Street Mall, Fountain Gate and Knox City each hosting over a quarter of a million shoppers a month. Another five of the top 20 are in Sydney and four are in Brisbane, with Rundle Mall in Adelaide, Westfield Carousel in Perth and Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast rounding out the list.
Levine commented that nearly half of all Australians agree they’ll go out of their way in search of a bargain (48%), but some shopping centres seem to attract a more discount-hungry clientele—with the top three all in Queensland: 69% of those who shop at Australia Fair or Queen Street Mall agree, as do 65% of Brisbane’s Myer Centre shoppers. She went on to add that just 22% of Australians agree they will buy products because of the label—but shoppers at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs have a distinct weakness for premium brands, at a rate nearly twice the norm (43%). Shoppers at Melbourne Central are the most likely to agree they enjoy clothes shopping (65%), compared with the norm of 40%, while you can also expect more prolonged browsing at the racks at Emporium (62%) and Westfield Parramatta (60%). Over four in ten shoppers at Westfield Parramatta, Westfield Woden or Cairns Central agree that credit enables them to buy the things they want, compared with 31% of Australians.