From discount hunting, addiction to sale shopping, and our tendency to impulse buy, we are a nation of sales-hungry bargain-hunters. Indeed, the latest report from digital payments platform PayPal shows almost seven in ten Aussies (68%) admit they are always on the hunt for discounts when shopping online and half (50%) say they have waited until an item was on sale before buying it online.

A total of 1,018 consumers and 485 businesses took part in the PayPal mCommerce Index: Trends Report 2019, which surveys the payment patterns and expectations of Australian smartphone users and provides insights into the mobile commerce landscape. The research was commissioned by PayPal Australia and was conducted by ACA Research between Friday 29 March and Friday 12 April 2019.

Although the younger generations are even more discount hungry, with three quarters of Gen Z (77%) and Gen Y (73%) respondents confessing they are always looking for sales, it might be surprising to discover it’s not just the younger generations on the hunt for a good deal. More wealthy Aussies, specifically those on an annual income of $150,000+, were also the most likely to actively seek out discounts (74%), regardless of their age.

PayPal’s Shopping Expert, Danielle Grant said Aussies take advantage of the sales to try out new brands or products without breaking the bank. “Aussies love a bargain, and we’re seeing more and more savvy shoppers take advantage of the nearly always-on sales cycles from businesses across the country. It’s definitely a more strategic approach to shopping, with half of Aussie (50%) saying they’ve watched and waited until something was on sale before snapping it up at a bargain price,” said Ms Grant.

Store stampede at sale time soon to be a thing of the past

While slightly more Australians currently shop the sales in-store (51%), the scales are shifting, with the majority saying they prefer to shop the sales online (57%). This preference to shop the sales online is significantly higher for younger shoppers (Gen Z 63%, Gen Y 65%) and younger shoppers also use their mobile devices to shop the sales more (Gen Z 33%) than they use their laptops or desktops (Gen Z 29%).

Boxing Day and End of Financial Year (EOFY) are the most popular times to shop online for bargains, aligning digital shopping with times famous for traditional in-store discounting. America’s Black Friday online sale has now also spilled into Australia to become one of the top three most popular times to get clicking.

“As the demand for online shopping experiences continues to rise, there appears to be a shift in the sales Aussies look forward to the most. While Boxing Day and End of Financial Year sales are still favourites, we’ve become conditioned to regular discounts and we now expect brands to offer online, and sometimes personalised discounts outside of traditional sales periods, such as birthday discounts or vouchers. As a nation we love sale shopping and as more retail has moved online we’ve adapted to embrace digital as well as traditional sales,” concluded Ms Grant.

For more information, the PayPal mCommerce Index: Trends Report 2019 is available for download here.

More from The Business Conversation:

Retailers under pressure due to technological change

Australian consumers are least tolerant of poor digital customer service

Australian retailers optimistic about Christmas trading period: Deloitte