According to recent research, Covid has had lasting effects on the way consumers spend their money.

For instance, people are shopping less often but buying more when they do.

In all, 2022 showed six major trends among shoppers across the country.

These include a rise in purchases of appliances, cars and cosmetics and a fall in sales of alcohol, apps and video games.

Among our region's businesses are those both following, and bucking, the trends.

Baden Anderson, who has owned and managed Bi-Rite Home Appliances in Walgett for 20 years said he has seen an increase in sales over the Covid period but it didn’t come without issues.

"We saw an increase in purchases of larger appliances like washing machines, fridges and other whitegoods but also had massive supply issues in being able to keep up with customer demand."

"Small appliances were popular too. We find that our sales often depend on local situations like whether there has been a decent harvest or not."

Connecting on and offline is also becoming more normal for businesses.

Up to 65 per cent of retailers are focused on delivering fully integrated experiences.

According to Gartner’s Retail Technology Study, the most common seamless transaction features are click and collect.

E-commerce sales have increased over the Covid period with many buying on-line for the first time.

Mr Anderson said that on-line shopping was not a huge part of his business.

"With the type of thing we sell, and considering costs of freight, people tend to prefer to come in and check out the items and then pick them up themselves. Being in a small town, it's just easier."

It is a different story for Sarah Atchison who owns Country Traders Home and Life in Narromine. While managing a shopfront in town, she also has a booming business involving on-line shopping.

E-commerce sales were already making up 10 per cent of retail sales in Australia pre-Covid, but this increased to 15 per cent in 2021.

It’s expected to continue, with more people buying online for the first time (+22 per cent) and plenty of existing customers (+ 88 per cent) buying more products across more categories.

"We recently celebrated our fifth year in business," Ms Atchison said. "I wasn't on-line selling to start with but after relaunching our website in 2021 and adding Shopify, sales have boomed."

Ms Atchison said she regularly ships products all over Australia.

"On-line shopping has definitely picked up over Covid, particularly in the last 12 months."

Ms Atchison also sells her products through the popular "Buy from the Bush" group who support sellers in regional Australia.

"I tend to sell a lot of candles and diffusers through them, while homewares make up most of the on-line sales from my shop," she said.

Ms Atchison makes her own candles, ticking another box from the shopping trends survey - the importance of sustainability of items and knowing how and where they are made.