Consumer Watchdog: Festive buying at home

Cassie Brooker and Ariana, 2. Photo / Doug Sherring

The ritual of Christmas shopping could be gone in as little as 10 years as the internet's grip on consumers tightens. Even the concept of unwrapping presents could be at risk with gift vouchers, once considered thoughtless, now topping wish lists.

There is no doubt the retail landscape is changing; 72 per cent of people in a study during the past three months said they would buy at least some gifts on the net this Christmas. Forty per cent of those interviewed, in the Gift Station study, said they would even consider giving "daily deal" vouchers.

Consumer behaviour expert Mike Lee, of the University of Auckland, said he believed the "Christmas rush" would be gone in 10 to 20 years. "More and more people are becoming comfortable with shopping on the internet," he said, adding tools that let a user search for gifts according to their loved-one's interests, age and gender meant more efficiency than browsing in a mall.

The retail industry has been working hard to keep attracting shoppers - particularly well-off families.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Ashley Church said the "experience" of Christmas shopping - the decorations, the Santa grottos, the bustle and window displays - meant it was more than a payment transaction. Meanwhile, Lee said he hoped the "Christmas experience" could be recreated outside the shopping environment.

The Warehouse online boss, Richard Harrison, agreed the internet had "changed the game" for retailers, but said postal delays around Christmas meant buying online was the reserve of organised folk. Many used The Warehouse website to browse, then went to a store to buy. "Online gives the power to the consumer to research. The internet is probably the most powerful tool a consumer can have."

Retailers Association spokesman Barry Hellberg predicted the Christmas shopping frenzy would hit in the final few days, as it had done in recent years.

"It's that family tradition of taking your children to the shops and making a day of it," he said.

The growing popularity of vouchers was shaking up the conventional idea of gift-giving in much bigger ways, Hellberg added.

The latest survey by the American National Retail Federation found 58 per cent of consumers preferred gift cards to actual gifts and Hellberg said the trend was even stronger in New Zealand.

CASSIE LOVES THE FUN OF THE MALL

Cassie Brooker says Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the frenzied trips to the mall.

It's only November and she's already thinking about what to get people.

"I'm a Capricorn so I like to start early. I've already ticked a few things off my list," she said.

Brooker, 33, planned to send gift vouchers to friends and family overseas to avoid postage fees but enjoyed choosing gifts and placing parcels under the tree.

"I do prefer the experience of shopping at shops, I like to make a day of it. I don't find it stressful at all," she said.

But she pointed out one factor setting her apart from many shoppers in the hustle and bustle: "I don't have kids."

Brooker is pictured with her friend's 2-year-old daughter, Ariana.