Additional questions in the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey, released on Wednesday, found 34 per cent of respondents planning to spend less on gifts this Christmas than they did last year, with 53 per cent spending the same.
"The general mood leading into the Christmas sales season ... is not particularly upbeat," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said releasing the data that has a sample size of 1,200 people.
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He said the results were only marginally better than last year and "suggests retailers may be in for a repeat of the lacklustre spending in Christmas 2009".
The overall consumer confidence index dropped 5.3 per cent in November following last week's interest rate rise by the Reserve Bank and bigger increase in the lending rates of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
