ilers have trudged through, the evidence isn’t quite as optimistic. The National Retail Association in November predicted Australians will spend $52.4 billion, including a record $5 billion online, this holiday season – an increase over last year’s embattled result, largely due to consumer confidence being impacted by the devastating fires that swept the nation at the end of the year.  However, this week, research by industry analysts Accenture found that 90 per cent of the 1,500 surveyed Australians will spend the same or less than last year.  According to Accenture’s Michelle Grujin, this statistic is based around the economic and financial health of the Australian consumer, which is still very much in a recovery phase.  “People will be a lot more deliberate in their spending,” Grujin told Inside Retail. “They’re still cautious about health and safety, and have very high expectations around hygiene, and I think that will push a lot of shoppers online [this year].” And while health and safety is one of the biggest trends to come out of 2020, a second trend has also intensified as consumers react to the actions of businesses and government: conscious consumerism.  Conscious consumerism is all about engaging with the ethical reality of shopping. More people these days want to support businesses that champion the same values they do: sustainable practices, treatment of workers, paying a living wage and so on. And in a year that saw supermarkets targeted for their treatment of farmers, governments for their treatment of citizens, and police for their treatment of minorities, it’s no surprise that retailers could be boycotted for the way they treat employees.  Accenture’s report notes that almost half of consumers (48 per cent) will favour businesses that supported their staff through the lockdown, and 42 per cent will actively avoid those retailers that laid staff off or reduced their benefits during the year. After the disastrous year that 2020 has been, and the struggles that the retail industry saw, that’s a lot of businesses to boycott.  “The social consciousness around purchasing behaviours are being shaped, and that will continue into the long-term,” Grujin said.  “To me, those retailers that can actually bring together the operational ability [with] cases of social and corporate responsibility will be the ones set up best to ride out much of the uncertainty of the Christmas period.” Grujin pointed to David Jones and Country Road’s partnership with Glam Corner as an example of a business doing this well. Customers can rent clothes for special occasions (in-store or online), and then return them to David Jones, allowing customers and the business to utilise the circular economy to build brand value and win over consumers. Another retailer committed to supporting social causes is Bunnings and its iconic sausage sizzle, which regularly donates proceeds to charities and community organisations. The Iconic has also made it easier for customers to find and support brands that mirror their own beliefs through its Considered range, as well as supporting cost-conscious shoppers through a new outlet store. Last year, the online retailer went above and beyond to help bushfire ravaged communities.  “I think it’s going to be really key for retailers to think about what they’re going to stand for in that value economy,” Grujin said.  “The strategies that our retailers start to think about, be it short-term or long-term, need to be authentic and very much connected to how consumers expect them to behave. “The pandemic has shaped a real sense of the ethics behind retail, and consumers will definitely carry that forward.”