x

2. If this Christmas is anything like the
last, Australians will spend inexcess
of $19billion on food between mid-
November and Christmas Day.
In fact, according to the Australian
Retailers Association, food anddrink
accounts for almost half of what
Australians spend during the festive
period. Christmas is such a big deal
for most Aussies that we’lllikely
spend more on Christmas-time food
than shoppers in the US, UK and
Canada. It will mean that we’ll be
spending about 21% more money on
food in December than the other 11
months of the year.
Let’s take a look at how female
grocery buyers will likely shop this
coming Christmas.
Source : Australian Retailers Association, December 2016

3. It seems that despite sparkly
decorations and peppy Christmas
carols on repeat, grocery shopping
at Christmas time is still not seen as
enjoyable.
In fact, 47% of females say that they
hate grocery shopping at Christmas
time (a further 32% are neutral).
Interestingly though, there are 1 in 6
women (17%) who actually say they
love it!
It seems that an increase in crowds
may be a big reason that women
are not keen on Christmas grocery
shopping – almost half (46%) say
that they avoid supermarkets near
Christmas time because it’s just too
busy.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, “Can you please tell us whether you agree or disagree with the following statements...’ AGREE N=2489 Metro N=975 RegionalN=1514

4. Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, “In your own words, can you tell us how you go about getting your grocery shopping done in the lead up to any Christmas celebrations you might have? N=2489
I am a list girl. I have lists of meals, lists of recipes,
lists of shops etc.... Month before buy/order turkey
and ham, month before get all drinks, Week before
get non perishable stuff, Couple of days before get
long lasting produce (potatoes, onions etc..), day
before get fruit and veggies, prawns and bread.
Try and buy some stuff in the weeks leading up to
Christmas and anything else that is better fresh, in the
days before Christmas
The month leading up to Christmas was start buying
things that have a long life like chocolates, crackers,
cheeses etc. Then about a week out we do our main
shop buying all the drink and other nibbles, meat
etc. Then on Christmas eve we get up early and go
to the green grocers buy all of our vegetable and
salad items so they are nice and fresh.
I try to plan ahead as much as I can but the fresh stuff
I run around on the day before Christmas eve to get it
all done. Christmas eve day im still buying things like a
crazy woman for the “just in case” situations
Whilst some women do their
Christmas grocery shopping just like
usual, many others plan ahead. They
favour buying non-perishables in
advance, particularly when specials
are on, and then purchase fresh
items in the day or two leading into
Christmas Day.

5. Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, “Thinking about your grocery shopping habits in the MONTH leading up to Christmas, can you tell us... Did you shop.....’MORE, LESS, the
SAME’ N=2489 Metro N=975 Regional N=1514
Spreading the cost of shopping over
several weeks so it didn’t seem quite a big
an amount I spent
Even though I had a list of what to
get I would always forget some sort
of ingredient. I also had to do several
shops for stock not being Instore and for
freshness
Because Christmas time is always busy
catching up with friends and family and
attending or hosting events, so stocking
up on groceries and drinks happens more
often.
Forgetting items and having to go back,
making sure we had enough for everyone,
hostpreparation
Because I went to the fruit shop. The
butcher, the fish market and the grocers a
lot more to get the items I needed as close
to Christmas as possible so they were the
freshest
Trying to buy food in advance to save
as little for the last minute grocery rush
Christmas Eve
Had to make more food than usual, and
some items were on sale at different
times, and others had to wait until closer
to so they were fresh.
Just trying to stock up when foods were on
special & not have one massive bill at the
end
of females say that they
shop MORE often for
groceries in the weeks
leading up to Christmas,
while 59% shop the same.
● They want it fresh
● They’re entertaining more
and feeding more people
● They’re going out more and
need to take items with them
● To spread out the cost and
take advantage of specials
● Worry that they won’t have
everything they need

6. Christmas grocery shopping seems
to be like ripping off a Band-
Aid – get it done as quickly as
possible! In fact, 76% of women
say that they try to get their grocery
shopping at Christmas time done
as quickly as possible.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, “Can you please tell us whether you agree or disagree with the following statements...’ AGREE N=2489 Metro N=975
Regional N=1514 Women with children under 18 N=959 Women with no children under 18 N=1530
The majority (62%) try to be
as organised as possible and
purchase in advance where they
can, so further trips are quick top
up shops before the final Christmas
celebration shop for fresh items.
The large majority of women still
prefer to do their grocery shopping
in store – with only 1 in 10 saying
that they did a lot of their grocery
shopping online at Christmas.
However, mums with children
under 18 years of age are more
likely to do their grocery shopping
online than those women without
kids under 18.
I did a lot of my grocery
shopping online this Christmas
8%
Women
without kids
under 18
13%
Mums with
kids under 18

7. Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, “And why would you say you leave your Christmas celebration grocery shopping until the last minute?’ N=2489 Metro N=975 Regional N=1514
There are 1 in 5 women though, who
will leave their Christmas celebration
shopping until the last minute. This
is largely due to time constraints and
the desire to get the freshest items
for their family. There are however,
financial constraints for some women.
%20 22

9. If we look at popular Christmas food and drinks,
alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and desserts
seem to be popular on the grocery shopping list.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, Thinking about the following items that you might have purchased for Christmas celebrations, when did you order or purchase these items? N=2489 Women
with children under 18 N=959 Women with no children under 18 N=1530
Mums of kids aged under 18
are more likely to purchase
bread and fruit for Christmas
celebrations than women who
don’t have children under 18.
84% 75%
Mums with Women
kids under 18 without kids
under 18
31%
38%
56%
67%
78%
79%
82%
86%
88%
Deli platters
Turkey
Seafood items
Ham
Fruit
Bread
Dessert items
Alcohol
Non-alcoholic
beverages

10. Looking at some of the main items purchased for
Christmas, there are some key differences between
those living in metro and regional areas.
It appears that Australians living in regional areas
are more likely to purchase grocery items for
Christmas, than their metro counterparts are.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, Thinking about the following items that you might have purchased for Christmas celebrations, when did you order or purchase these items? N=2489 Metro
N=975 Regional N=1514
34%
38%
59%
71%
81%
80%
85%
89%
91%
26%
38%
51%
60%
75%
76%
79%
80%
85%
Deli platters
Turkey
Seafood items
Ham
Bread
Fruit
Dessert items
Alcohol
Non-alcoholic beverages
Metro Regional

11. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
A month before
Christmas or earlier
3 weeks before 2 weeks before 1 week before In the week leading
up to Christmas
Christmas Eve
Ham
Turkey
Seafood items
Alcohol
Non-alcoholic beverages
Deli platters
Fruit
Bread
Dessert items
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, Thinking about the following items that you might have purchased for Christmas celebrations, when did you order or purchase these items? N=2489 Metro N=975
fresh
non-fresh

12. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
A month before
Christmas or earlier
3 weeks before 2 weeks before 1 week before In the week leading
up to Christmas
Christmas Eve
Ham
Turkey
Seafood items
Alcohol
Non-alcoholic beverages
Deli platters
Fruit
Bread
Dessert items
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, Thinking about the following items that you might have purchased for Christmas celebrations, when did you order or purchase these
items? N=2489 Regional N=1514

13. For 91% of female grocery buyers,
freshness is very important when
thinking about Christmas grocery
items. Value for money is important,
although not to the same degree.
Source : SCA Research Post Xmas Study, January 2017, When thinking about grocery items that you purchased for Christmas celebrations, how important were the
following things to you? N=2489 Metro N=975 Regional N=1514 Women with children under 18 N=959 Women with no children under 18 N=1530
For mums of kids aged under 18, value for money and ease of ordering/
purchasing are especially important.
Value for money (very important)
Women
without kids
under 18
63% 54%
Mums with
kids under 18
Ease of ordering/purchasing
(very important)
Women
without kids
under 18
54% 46%
Mums with
kids under 18

14. 14
Grocery shopping is a chore – whether it’s a general weekly
shop or in preparation for a Christmas celebration. In general,
women don’t particularly care for it.
It does seem though that there are a substantial portion of
women who tend to shop more in the lead up to Christmas,
than they normally would. They are stocking up their
cupboards, looking for money savers and ultimately waiting to
purchase the freshest produce and items at the last moment.
An increase in entertaining and mouths to feed leads them to
purchase more grocery items than they typically would.
Women want to get their grocery shopping done as quickly as
possible, even if that means doing it in person and not online.
Fresh is best for these female grocery shoppers, so it seems
they’re prepared to battle the aisles to get this for their
families.

15. 15
SINGLE 28%
DEFACTO 32%
MARRIED 35%
Metro Regional
R e l a t i o n s h i p
S t a t u s
M a r k e t B r e a k d o w n
25%
M e t r o
18%
M e t r o
20%
M e t r o
11%
M e t r o
16%
M e t r o
100%
H a v e c h i l d r e n i n h o m e u n d e r 1 8
4%
R e g i o n a l
1%
R e g i o n a l
29%
R e g i o n a l
44%
R e g i o n a l
14%
R e g i o n a l
17%
16%
16%
12%
11%
9%
9%
7%
31%
18%
14%
10%
8%
6%
6%
3%
18-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55+
Metro Regional
A g e B r e a k d o w n
Respondent Breakdown
38%
68%
YES NO

16. 16
U n s p l a s h
S t o c k s n a p
P i x a b a y
The results of this survey are “INDICATIVE” ONLY.
The survey was conducted by Southern Cross Austereo using its online
panel nationally.
The panel is obtained from our radio networks database under the labels
of ‘Hit VIP’ on the HIT Network and ‘Music Jury’ on the MMM Network. All
members of these databases would be considered listeners to these
stations.
The database contains about 200,000 members.
The is split between the Hit database and the Triple M database.
Of these members, approximately 20,000 people were invited to be part of
our Insights panel community. This survey recruited members from our
community panel in metro and regional areas. Approximately 3360
completed the study. This report includes female sample from metro and
regional areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth,
comprising a sample of 2489.
Various filters have been placed over the data at different times.
Certain questions asked for an ‘essay’ or ‘verbatim’ type of response OR
brands/words that first came to mind.
A keyword search was used to sort and rank the responses to these
questions.
The results are an un-weighted sample, but are reflective of the Southern
Cross Austereo audience. SCA brands reach approximately 35% of the
10+ population and approximately 41% of the 25-54 population in the five
metropolitan markets in Australia, suggesting it would be reasonable to
consider these results to be a fair if not fully balanced representation of
the opinions in these marketplaces.
Furthermore, as it is an online survey, the respondents would also be
skewed towards being ‘early adopters’ for technology, ‘trend setters’ in
general and likely to be a good early indication of brand leaders, trend
setters and early adopters in general.
These research surveys conducted by Southern Cross Austereo are done
so to provide a general understanding of the opinions, interests and
attitudes of the metropolitan marketplaces only.