Victoria's $700m Christmas shopping splurge

UP to 100 people a minute will invade major shopping centres in a final Christmas spending scramble.

Stores are counting on the annual dash and ultra-aggressive Boxing Day stocktake sales to rescue their forlorn retail year.

About $700 million is expected to be pumped into Victorian cash registers from today to close of business tomorrow night.

Hundreds of thousands of people will flock to air-conditioned mega centres Chadstone and Highpoint, which are open non-stop from this morning.

The Herald Sun can reveal department store Myer will start its Boxing Day stocktake sale a day early.

Most discounts will be offered online from 6pm on Christmas Eve in a major break with tradition.

"We need to be more aggressive this year because the customer is being frugal, so we need to find new ways to bring them in," chief Bernie Brookes said.

"People get used to the sales; it can get boring, so we wanted to reinvigorate it."

A Roy Morgan rating, released yesterday, warned consumer confidence in Australia's economy was waning and well below the same time last year.

A Herald Sun survey of 100 shoppers across Melbourne found average spending on gifts was $911, with most shunning credit cards to avoid debt.

Epping Plaza customers were most generous at $1135, while trendy Chapel St had the lowest tally of $715.

Western suburbs shoppers planned to lavish more than half of their Christmas cash on children.

Those at Southland were most likely to be tightening the screws compared with last year.

Chadstone expects up to 200,000 visitors for its 34-hour trade from 8am today until 6pm tomorrow. Highpoint, open from 9am today to 5pm tomorrow, is predicting 150,000 people.

Chadstone suggested shoppers bring water, wear comfortable shoes and carry an MP3 player for "quiet time" to survive.

Cleaners yesterday warned strikes could leave toilets and food courts dirty or closed at any of 11 busy shopping centres. But employer Spotless accused the United Voice union of a public fear campaign.

Retail insiders say it is critical for stock to shift over Christmas and the Boxing Day sales after a torrid year of subdued spending, complaints about poor service, competition from cheaper websites and "sales fatigue" among customers.

Myer's revamped stocktake sale will include daily deals in stores, chances for shoppers to win back their daily spending and heavily discounted household items.

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