Whether it was the strong growth of Black Friday pulling Christmas purchases forward, the effect of multiple cash rate cuts in relatively quick succession, or the impact of bushfires raging across Australia, it seems the lowered expectations many Australian retailers held going into 2019 holiday period were proven right. 

According to a poll of Inside Retail readers, almost 50 per cent of respondents said sales were on track to be lower than the year prior. Additionally, in a separate poll, almost 60 per cent of respondents said that trading in 2019 overall was worse than anticipated.

Both the National Retail Association and Australian Retailers Association posited sales would grow, though at a lower rate than previous years, with both associations expecting total sales for the Christmas period to eclipse $50 billion. 

We don’t yet have hard figures to see how close to the mark the NRA and ARA came, but early results haven’t been promising, with many consumers having opted to donate to bushfire-related causes or purchase experiences for their loved ones, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. 

So, we wanted to ask our readers what they think went wrong in the 2019 holiday period?

Was fulfilment made more difficult due to road closures in disaster-stricken areas? Did your business have difficulty resupplying due to these issues? Were foot-traffic and customer numbers down on previous years? 

Have your say below, and if you saw other issues, add them in the comments below!