Shoppers are set to splurge $23.9bn at this year’s Boxing Day sales, yet continued cost-of-living pressures are prompting many to cut back on gift giving and holiday spending, spelling challenging conditions for retailers. Fresh forecasts, released by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) on Saturday, showed post-Christmas spending up to January 15 was expected to rise by about $400m compared with last year. Department stores are predicted to experience the greatest growth – up 4.8 per cent. Other segments of the retail industry expected to record sales growth include clothing, up 3.4 per cent, and food retailing, up 2.8 per…
