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ANZ is forecasting a surge in consumer spending this festive season, with customers expected to inject $5.1 billion into the economy during the holiday shut down period (21 December 2025 to 5 January 2026) – a 4.7% increase on the same period last year.

Spending is expected to be led by categories that capture the holiday spirit, including food and beverages, travel and leisure, digital goods, and precious stones and metals – together accounting for around half of total expenditure.

ANZ General Manager, Deposits and Payments, Kate Britton said: “Customers are embracing the festive spirit and we’re seeing that reflected in their spending habits, both in the lead up to Christmas Day, and the sales that follow it. 

“From travel and leisure to digital goods and luxury items, this seasonal boost offers a significant and welcome uplift for businesses across the country, as consumers use the down time to spoil themselves and their loved ones.” 

One business seeing this trend firsthand is Michael Hill, a long-standing ANZ customer and leading jewellery retailer. CEO of Michael Hill International Limited, Jonathan Waecker, said: 

“Christmas is one of our favourite moments of the year at Michael Hill, and the joy of gifting just keeps getting bigger. This season, we are celebrating with an incredible range of fine jewellery across key price points, making it easier than ever to find something truly special for the people you love.

“Our iconic packaging is more beautiful than ever, so every gift feels magical from the moment it is unwrapped. It is a time filled with sparkle, celebration, and the delight of giving something that lasts.”

Key trends from 2024 ANZ customer data highlights shifting consumer priorities:

• Digital goods (such as digital games, platform subscriptions, digital books and apps) surged 50.9% year-on-year, while precious items rose 24%

• Holiday-driven demand spikes were evident across hotels (+31.9%), vehicle rentals (+31.5%), and wineries (+24.3%), compared to normal trading weeks*

*Normal trading weeks refer to weeks not influenced by an event or festival.

State-by-state insights from 2024:

• QLD, NT, and WA recorded the largest year-on-year increases (10%, 9%, and 8.8% respectively)

• WA had the highest spend per capita ($1,465, up 6.2%), while QLD saw the strongest per capita growth (8%)

Holiday spending patterns:

• Boxing Day rebounds strongly, driven by post-Christmas sales, with $282m spent in 2024 on 26 December alone

• Pre-Christmas spending is consistently high, with $415m spent on Christmas Eve in 2024, up from $295m in 2023

Data refers to the period of 21 December to 5 January.

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anzcomau:newsroom/mediacentre/Media-Release

Festive spending: ANZ forecasts $5.1 billion boost during holiday ‘shut down’

2025-12-17

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Tuesday, December, 2025

Each year, the Industrial Automation Department at Bakersfield College hosts their
Senior Projects Open House which allows students in the program to present the innovative
projects they have been working on throughout the year. The event is open to the public,
and attendees have the opportunity to preview the students’ automation creations and
interact with the people who developed them. This year’s open house took place during
the first week of December and was hosted in the Robotics Lab of the Science & Engineering
Building.

There were a variety of projects that covered multiple industrial practices including
agriculture, human-machine interface, industrial processes, and more. One of the participating
projects was titled ‘Aerophonics with Weather Machine’ and was conceived and created
by a student team. RJames Viloria, Juan Manriquez, and Amy Huerta have been working
together on the agriculture-based project for nearly two semesters. The ambitious
endeavor focuses on optimizing a controlled environmental system for more efficient
farming.

“We came up with the idea because most of the solutions in the market are timer-based,”
says RJames Viloria, “the purpose of our project is to implement precision by measuring
nutrients, PH levels, and temperature in order to increase yields.” They built the
entire project from scratch, and their display included a kale crop they had cultivated.
“We grew kale, but we also tested lettuces and specifically, Romaine lettuce,” says
Viloria, “and we were able to increase the growth rate and yield of the crops.”

When asked if they felt their project was successful, Juan Manriquez was quick to
reply, “As a group and team, we feel like we nailed it,” he says, “all of our hard
work has paid off.” The team gets graded throughout the entire process, but the open
house serves as the last step to receiving their grade. “We do get reviewed and graded
during both semesters, and towards the end, the overall project would be the presentation,”
says Manriquez, “So, based on how that goes today – it’s like the final of our course.”

The Industrial Automation open house served a perfect environment to showcase the
talent, creativity and technical skill developed within the department. The dedication
demonstrated by students like Viloria, Manriquez, and Huerta reflects their commitment
to hands-on learning and modern problem solving. Congratulations to all participating
seniors for their impressive work and successful presentations and best wishes as
they take the next steps in their academic and professional careers.