Boxing Day shopping splurge estimated at $1.9 billion Rush: Shoppers at various locations in the city centre in the hunt for bargains. To shopping fanatics, it's the equivalent of a grand final. But rather than soaking up the atmosphere at the main game, they are increasingly staying on their lounges to bag Boxing Day bargains. Retailers believe domestic online spending will hit $2.8 billion between Thursday and the middle of next month, up 13.8 per cent on last year, while offshore buying is expected to surge 20.1 per cent, hitting $1.7 billion. "It's a significantly higher growth rate than last year," Australian National Retailers Association chief executive Margy Osmond said. The domestic growth is a reflection of the fact that there's a much more robust online offering by local retailers. Let the shopping begin: Actress Rose Byrne rings to signal the opening of Boxing Day sales at David Jones. Still, the shop tills rang loudly and early on Thursday, the association estimated Australians forked out $1.9 billion - up 5.5 per cent on last year. With Christmas feasts barely digested, Sydney's keenest shoppers headed for the Boxing Day sales, with David Jones and Myer opening the doors of their flagship city stores to queues of people at 5am. International students Peter Yong and Julie Jing showed up at Pitt Street Mall about 6am and said they were surprised at how calm the whole affair was. "I think there should be a lot of lines, people going crazy about it," Ms Jing said. Because I am from China so normally lining up ... is like festival, it's crazy. But here it is OK. I think I like shopping here. She said compared with China, stuff was cheaper here after the currency conversion. They noticed many of the shoppers speaking Mandarin and Cantonese, particularly in the high-end designer stores. "Gucci, Prada, the Chinese like that," Mr Yong said. Most are east Asian. Retailers said manchester, fashion and women's shoes led the Boxing Day spending charge. A David Jones spokeswoman said the group had "a really good start," with a million shoppers expected through its doors on Boxing Day. She said that while essentials such as manchester remained strong, there had been a surge in shoes and fashion, especially designer labels. "Fashion is really strong," she said. People are looking for bargains on known brands. But the big qualification is that it's just one day, and the momentum's got to be maintained. That'd be good for everyone, a bit of confidence. David Jones had earlier predicted it would sell more than 1 million towels, more than 150,000 Lego sets and 55,000 women's dresses in coming weeks. Shoppers were expected to spend $1.9 billion across the nation on one of the biggest trading days of the year, which would be a 5.5 per cent boost from last year. However, Australia's largest department store, Myer, is set to miss out on some of the online spoils after its store website crashed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.