Finder 2026 Shopping Report

Introduction

Shopping now runs on a near-constant cycle of sale events. Afterpay Day and Amazon Prime Day have joined Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day on the calendar, making it harder than ever to pick the 'best' time to buy that Dyson Airwrap, Warhammer set or Toniebox for the kids. Retailers online and in-store dangle a tantalising mix of discounts, cashback and coupons, and social platforms now let you buy without ever leaving your feed.

Finder surveyed 1,006 Australian adults in October 2026, just ahead of the Black Friday and Christmas shopping season. Finder's Shopping Report 2026 follows the season in three parts:

1. The Christmas squeeze: how we're placed going in. Planned holiday spending has dropped by $348 in a year, 28% of households are struggling to afford the season, and 57% feel pressure to overspend on gifts.
2. Shopping the sales: how we actually buy. Most of us do our homework before we buy, yet 61% admit to impulse buying, and almost 1 in 3 have bought straight from a social media feed.
3. The hangover: what it costs us afterwards. Half of us have borrowed to buy something we couldn't otherwise afford, more than 1 in 5 Black Friday shoppers has regretted a purchase, and 1 in 5 Australians has been scammed or nearly scammed during a sale.

The generational divide runs through almost every finding. Gen Z is the most likely to shop the sales, buy through social media, and borrow to pay for purchases.

Holiday spend: 2021 to 2026

A $1,399 summer for the average Aussie

As summer warms up and the festive season gets closer, Australia's retailers roll out some of their most aggressive sales and promotions of the year to win our dollars. And there are plenty of dollars at stake.

On average, Australian adults expect to spend $1,399 this holiday period across presents, flights and travel, eating and drinking out, food and entertaining, and alcohol.

That adds up to an estimated $30.5 billion nationally.

That's a big number, but it's a lot smaller than last year's. After peaking at $1,750 in 2025, the highest in our data going back to 2021, planned spend has dropped by $351. That's a 20% fall for the average Aussie in just 12 months.

It's hard to ignore the cost-of-living backdrop. The RBA raised the cash rate target to 4.6% in late September 2026. In September 2025, it sat a full percentage point lower, at 3.6%.

Are mortgage holders cutting back, like the RBA hopes?

The RBA raises the cash rate to cool household spending. Higher repayments leave borrowers with less disposable income, and higher interest rates make saving more appealing than spending. Our figures are consistent with that: Australians expect to spend significantly less than they did last year, and in 2026, mortgage holders are set to be out-spent by those who own their home outright, albeit by a tiny margin ($32 on average). Renters expect to spend the least, at $1,013.

In 2025, the average spend of outright homeowners was significantly higher than it is in 2026, with a small but mighty proportion of wayfaring homeowners expecting to spend upwards of $10,000 on travel alone. It's not surprising that this cohort has decreased in size year-on-year, given current hesitations about international travel, driving down overall travel spend in 2026.

Where the money goes: spending by category

It's not just one category driving the decline. Flights and travel is the biggest line item this year at an average of $502, followed by presents ($367), food and entertaining ($220), eating and drinking out ($205) and alcohol ($105). Every category is down on 2025.

Travel takes the biggest hit: down 29%

Travel is our biggest holiday expense, and it's also where we're cutting hardest. Planned spending on flights and travel is down $204 versus 2025; a 29% drop.

Would-be travellers have plenty of reasons to rethink their plans. The sheer cost of living has us questioning where every dollar goes, and heightened international tensions over the past year have added uncertainty to air travel while pushing up fuel prices, making both flying and driving that bit dearer.

Cutting back to make Christmas work

61% are taking action

Six in 10 Australians (61%) are taking at least one action to afford holiday shopping this year. Buying fewer gifts is the most common (26%), followed by setting a strict budget (22%) and cutting back on groceries or essentials (19%). Others are agreeing to a gift spending cap with family and friends (17%), taking on extra work (15%), selling items for cash (13%), and using BNPL or a credit card they wouldn't normally use (13%).

Parents are doing the heavy lifting

Parents are working hardest to make Christmas happen. Almost 3 in 4 (74%) of those with children under 18 are taking at least one action, nearly a quarter (24%) are taking on extra work, and 23% are cutting back on groceries or essentials.

Younger Australians scrambling to afford the shop

Baby Boomers, with the most comfortable financial outlook heading into the holidays, are also the most likely generation to take no action at all (65%). Younger Australians are working harder for it: 75% of Gen Y and 79% of Gen Z are taking action, and they're the most likely to take on extra work, at 20% and 26% respectively.

Gift pressure: 57%, rising to 77% of parents

Gifts are where the social pressure of the season really bites. More than half of Australians (57%) feel at least some pressure to spend more than they can afford on gifts to avoid disappointing family or friends.

For parents, that pressure is close to universal. 77% of parents with kids under 18 feel it, and a quarter (24%) feel a lot of pressure from loved ones.

Parents are also planning to spend more on presents: $399 on average, compared with $347 for those without kids at home.

Gen Z and Baby Boomers are night and day. Boomers are by far the least pressured generation, with 78% feeling no pressure at all, compared with just 22% of Gen Z.

More women than men feel the pressure too: 63% of women feel some level of pressure from loved ones, compared with 52% of men.

Pressure drives cutbacks, and borrowing

That pressure changes how people shop. Australians who feel some or a lot of pressure are far more likely to cut back on groceries or essentials (30% vs 7%), take on extra work (25% vs 4%) or sell items for cash (22% vs 3%) than those who feel none.

It's also pushing people towards debt. 21% of those who feel some or a lot of pressure plan to use BNPL or a credit card they wouldn't normally use to fund Christmas, compared with just 4% of those who feel no pressure. We'll come back to what that borrowing costs in Part 3.

Our ING research throughout this year has consistently shown that building savings is a key financial priority for Australians after several years of pressure on household budgets. We can see that playing out in our own customer data too, with savings balances among active ING customers around 5% higher as we head into the final months of the year.

The interesting test now is Christmas. This is traditionally the peak spending season, and historically we've seen December card spending and purchase volumes up to 8% higher than preceding months as Australians hit the major sales and Christmas shopping.

This year we're seeing the usual seasonal lift, but so far it isn't running at the same pace. That could suggest Australians are being a little more disciplined and selective about where their money goes, rather than simply undoing the savings progress they've made during the year.

Matt Bowen, Head of Consumer and Market Insights at ING

Trending gifts

Every Christmas seems to have its 'it' gift: the one that sells out, sparks a queue outside the shops or seems to turn up under every second tree. Before we look at what could top wish lists this year, here's a quick trip down memory lane. How many of these ended up under your tree in the past 5 years?

What five years of gifting tells us

A few favourites keep coming back. Interactive pets and surprise toys turn up almost every year, and learning toys are a reliable hit with parents (LeapFrog has picked up the Australian Toy Association's top prize twice in five years). Bluey is the constant, and Pokemon is bigger than ever. And nearly every year has one viral craze, from bubble guns to Labubu, that rarely lasts beyond a single Christmas.

This year, with 26% of Australians planning to buy fewer gifts, the presents that do make the list will need to earn their spot.

Finder's 2026 hot list

So what could be on wish lists this year? We've looked at Australian toy sales data, what retailers are stocking and what's launching before Christmas to put together our picks.

Ones to watch: KPop Demon Hunters plush toys have landed at Big W and Kmart and could take off if the Netflix film's popularity carries into Christmas. LEGO Pokemon sets could be a sleeper hit, and for adults, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses (from $469) are worth keeping an eye on.

On the way out: Remember the Labubu queues? By the end of last year, Australian retailers were reporting that the craze had cooled. The upside: if someone on your list still loves them, they should be much easier to find.

Why this could be a pricey tech Christmas

2026 could turn out to be one of the most expensive tech Christmases in years. GTA VI, the foldable iPhone and the Switch 2 price rise are all landing at once, while an AI-driven memory chip shortage is pushing up tech prices across the board. That's a tough combination when 61% of Australians are already taking action to afford the holidays, so it pays to shop around and keep an eye on the sales. Which brings us to how we shop them.

What's in the cart: men vs women

Clothes and shoes top the sale-season shopping list (32%), followed by small electronics such as phones and headphones (19%), beauty products (17%) and food and alcohol (17%). Over a third of Australians (36%) say they won't buy anything in the sales this year.

Men and women are about as likely as each other to shop the sales, but their carts look very different. Men are twice as likely to buy large electronics such as TVs and gaming consoles (15% vs 7%) and more likely to buy small electronics (22% vs 16%). Women are 2.5 times as likely to buy beauty products (25% vs 10%) and more likely to buy clothes and shoes (36% vs 28%).

Superspender parents

Parents are some of the most stressed shoppers heading into sales season, and they also have the longest shopping lists. Just 19% won't buy anything in the sales this year, compared with 47% of people without kids under 18 at home. And parents shopping the sales are planning purchases across an average of 3.1 categories, versus 2.1 for those without kids under 18.

Toys are the obvious standout, with parents 3.67 times as likely to be buying them. But parents are also around three times as likely to be shopping for whitegoods, sporting equipment and furniture, which suggests the sales are doing a lot of heavy lifting for family households.

A $5.1 billion weekend: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Australians estimate they typically spend an average of $236 each during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, which equates to around $5.1 billion nationally.

That average includes the 46% of people who typically spend nothing at all. Among the 54% who do spend during this sale period, the average is $441, and 6% of Aussies usually spend $1,000 or more.

Gen Y are the biggest spenders, averaging $359 per person, or $526 among those who spend. Gen Z are the most likely to take part (72%) but say they typically spend less overall ($260).

By state, NSW are the biggest spenders at an average of $294, followed by Victoria ($240), WA ($219) and Queensland ($207). South Australia is the only state typically spending under $200, at an average of $129.

Borrowing goes hand in hand with bigger sale budgets. People who have used a credit card, BNPL or a loan for a sale purchase typically spend $392 over the weekend, more than double the $180 spent by those who never have.

What triggers an impulse buy?

61% are impulse shoppers

Six in 10 Australians (61%) are impulse shoppers, whether it's the urgency of a flash sale, the emotions of a bad day at work or the FOMO of seeing a product on an influencer.

Discounting is the biggest trigger. 30% of Aussies say a flash sale or countdown timer gets them to spend, ahead of in-store and checkout displays (22%).

Mood plays a role too. One in six (16%) shop because of stress or a bad day, and 15% buy something because they were bored and scrolling online. Seeing an item on social media or an influencer (13%) and fear of missing out on limited stock (13%) round out the list.

By generation: Gen Z is the most likely to stress-shop

Baby Boomers are the least likely to admit they impulse buy, and for the 31% who do, the most common trigger is an in-store or checkout display. In contrast, 81% of Gen Z impulse buy, well ahead of Gen Y (72%) and Gen X (49%).

The biggest generational gap is emotional spending. More than a quarter of Gen Z (28%) say stress or a bad day triggers a purchase, making it their second most common driver, compared with 20% of Gen Y, 10% of Gen X and just 1% of Boomers. A quarter of Gen Z (25%) have also been tempted into an impulse buy by social media or an influencer.

Impulse buys don't just dent the budget on the day. As we'll see in Part 3, they're also the purchases most likely to end in regret, and most likely to end up on credit.

Borrowing to buy: 51%

Remember that gift pressure? It doesn't stay under the tree. Australians who feel some or a lot of pressure to overspend on gifts are five times as likely to plan to use BNPL or a credit card they wouldn't normally use to fund Christmas (21% vs 4%). And borrowing to buy is already common.

Half of Australians (51%) have used some form of credit or borrowing in the past 12 months to pay for a purchase they couldn't otherwise afford. Credit cards are the most common (27%), followed by BNPL (22%), borrowing from family or friends (10%), personal loans (8%) and layby (8%).

By generation

The credit card is the most popular option, both overall and across every generation. Over a quarter of Australians have used one in the past year to buy something they couldn't otherwise afford, including 24% of Baby Boomers and 30% of Gen Z.

Other methods are a young(er) person's game. Just 5% of Baby Boomers used BNPL for this purpose, and none used a personal loan or layby. Among Gen Z, 29% have used BNPL, 21% have borrowed from family or friends and 19% have taken out a personal loan. Only 30% of Gen Z haven't borrowed to buy something in the past year, compared with 73% of Boomers.

Consumer debt is commonplace in Australia, even if the methods change by generation. Fewer of us use it for sale shopping specifically, but those who do can end up carrying it well into the new year.

Carrying sale debt

26% of Australians say they have used a credit card, BNPL, a personal loan or borrowed money for a sale purchase specifically.

How long does it take to pay off?

Most clear it quickly: 1 in 3 (32%) of those using some form of consumer debt carry the balance for less than a month. But a worrying 12% carry it for five months or more, and 6% take more than a year to pay off what they bought on sale.

Some services, such as BNPL, let you pay over several months interest-free, which makes them an appealing way to spread the cost. In fact, 42% of Australians had at least one BNPL account in October 2026. But credit terms lasting several months or years can carry interest of up to 35.99% APR, so it's important to clear any balance before interest kicks in.

Who's carrying the debt? Impulse buyers and higher earners

Shopping habits and borrowing go together. A third (33%) of impulse buyers have used credit for a sale purchase, compared with 16% of those who don't impulse buy.

Higher-income households are the most likely to use some form of credit to spend during the sales. 33% of Australians in households earning $150,000 or more have used credit for a sale purchase, compared with 20% of those in households earning less than $60,000.

Sale scams: why social shoppers are 7x more exposed

One in five Australians (20%) have been scammed or nearly scammed while shopping online during a sale event like Black Friday or Boxing Day. 13% caught it before losing money, but 7% weren't so lucky. That equates to around 1.5 million Australians who have lost money to a sale-event scam.

Online shoppers are the most exposed. 34% of those who mostly shop online have been scammed or nearly scammed, and 14% have lost money, compared with 5% of those who mainly shop in-store.

Social shoppers are seven times more likely to be targeted

Buying straight from your feed is convenient, but it's also where the risk is highest. Half (50%) of people who have bought through social media have been scammed or nearly scammed during a sale event, compared with just 7% of those who haven't. That's seven times the rate. They're also 10 times as likely to have lost money (20% vs 2%).

Scammers time fake stores and too-good-to-be-true ads around big sale events, and social media puts those ads right where shoppers are scrolling.