Australians spent in record numbers in the lead-up to Christmas, the peak retail body says, with those aged over 14 spending an average of $2,500 each in the six weeks leading to the event.

The Australian Retailers Association said about $45 billion was spent in the period leading up to Christmas, a slight increase on last year.

The association's chief executive, Russell Zimmerman, said Christmas was an important time for the retail sector.

"A lot of retailers depend upon the Christmas and new year period sales," he said.

"They often get around 60 per cent of their sales at this time of the year so it's an extremely important time for them.

"So here we would be hoping we're on target to achieve the $45 billion and then we get good post-Christmas sales."

He said that represented good news for the economy.

"And again remembering that retail employs around 10 per cent of the working population," he said.

Technology products have been some of the big sellers this year, Mr Zimmerman said.

"One of the things that has [also] sold particularly well in the last couple of days has been perfumes, aftershaves, personal accessories - they have done very, very well," he said.

"The one that is still a big worry to us is the clothing and footwear sector. That seems to have been very soft."