Books, gifts and toysIndependent retail
East Gippsland Shire Council
Spend here.
It stays here longer.
This tool helps show, in simple terms, what can happen when East Gippsland residents choose a local business first. It is not about spending more. It is about where everyday spending lands.
The simple idea
When spending starts local, it can keep working locally.
A local purchase can support an East Gippsland business, local wages, local suppliers and more local spending before that money leaves the region.
How local spending works
One local purchase can do more than one job.
This is the simple story behind the Buy Local campaign.
1
You buy local
Your money first lands with an East Gippsland business.
2
The business pays people
Part of that income helps pay local wages and salaries.
3
The business buys from suppliers
That can include stock, freight, trades, repairs, accounting and other services.
4
Some of those dollars get spent again
That is the flow-on effect. The money gets more chances to work in East Gippsland before it leaks out.
The bigger picture
East Gippsland residents already spend a lot of money.
These are the same all-category totals used in the section below. The question is not whether people spend. It is where some of that spending happens.
Resident spending, 2025/26
$1.50b
spent by East Gippsland residents over the year.
$724.5m
spent locally in East Gippsland
$275.1m
spent outside East Gippsland
$495.8m
recorded as online purchases
Online purchases are shown separately because Spendmapp records the sales channel, not whether the online seller is based in East Gippsland. Online can include both local and non-local businesses.
How we spend
Where does our spending happen?
Choose a type of spending to see what East Gippsland residents spent locally, outside the region and online during 2025/26.
All resident spending
All Spendmapp expenditure categories combined.
Total resident spending in this category
$1.50b
For every $100 of resident spending in this category
Important: online does not automatically mean the money left East Gippsland. Spendmapp records online as a sales channel, and the seller may be local or elsewhere.
The Buy Local opportunity
There is plenty of spending already happening. The opportunity is to shift a little more of it to East Gippsland businesses.
Even a small change in where residents choose to shop can redirect significant spending to businesses in our towns and communities.
Source: Spendmapp by Geografia, East Gippsland Shire Council, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026. Percentages are calculated from Resident Local Spend + Resident Escape Spend + Resident Online Spend and may not total exactly 100% after rounding.
Where we shop outside the region
What do East Gippsland residents spend the most on elsewhere?
This is spending we know was recorded at businesses outside East Gippsland. Online spending is not included here because an online seller may be local or outside the region.
The known opportunity
$275.1m
was spent by East Gippsland residents at businesses outside the region during 2025/26.
A small shift can matter.
This does not mean every purchase can or should be made locally. It simply shows the categories where the most resident spending is currently going to businesses outside East Gippsland.
Biggest dollar amounts
Where the most money is being spent outside East Gippsland
Annual resident escape spend.
Biggest share of spending
Where outside-region spending makes up the largest share
For every $100 residents spend in that category, how much is recorded outside East Gippsland.
What should I take from this?
Some categories offer a bigger Buy Local opportunity than others.
The biggest opportunity is not asking people to spend more. It is encouraging residents to check whether an East Gippsland business can meet a need before that purchase is made elsewhere.
Source: Spendmapp by Geografia, East Gippsland Shire Council, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026. “Outside East Gippsland” uses Resident Escape Spend. The percentage view divides Resident Escape Spend by total resident spending in that category, including local, escape and online spending. Online is kept separate because it can include both local and non-local sellers.
Try it yourself
What if you shifted just a little each week?
Pick a type of spending, then test what happens if households choose an East Gippsland business more often.
Shopping & food retail
Examples: groceries, clothes, gifts, pharmacy, takeaway food and everyday shopping.
For you
$1,040more of your existing spending stays local each year.
For 1,000 households
$1.04m
redirected to East Gippsland businesses in a year.
And because that spending starts locally...
$1.75mtotal local economic activity supported
9.4jobs supported across the economy
$550kwages and salaries supported
$988kvalue added supported
Economic estimates are indicative only and use East Gippsland REMPLAN multipliers for the selected category.
Proudly local
Built around real East Gippsland places.
Local streets, town centres, neighbourhood businesses and the region's places are what this campaign is trying to back.
Here is the scale of it
What if we brought home just 5% of the money currently spent outside East Gippsland?
Not half. Not all of it. Just a small shift where a local option makes sense.
If current escape spending came back in roughly the same mix as the categories in this tool, that same 5% shift is estimated to support:
$17.57mtotal economic activity
84jobs across the economy
$4.84mwages and salaries
Where does the money go?
Compare the spending, then test a local shift.
Choose All categories for the overall picture, or select a single category for a deeper look. You can then test what a realistic shift to East Gippsland businesses could mean.
Resident local spend
$0
Resident escape spend
$0
Resident online spend
$0
Top escape destination
Traralgon
Destination ranking
Top 10 shown
Spend at that destination
$7.88m
Turn the insight into a scenario
What if more of this spending stayed local?
You are not asking people to spend more overall. You are testing what happens if some existing spending is redirected to an East Gippsland business instead.
Extra local spending in a year$520k
Share of current escape spend2.0%
Total economic activity$874k
Jobs supported4.7
Wages and salaries$275k
Value added$494k
Destination rankings come from Spendmapp resident escape spending data. Economic estimates use East Gippsland REMPLAN multipliers or a weighted all-category mix where shown.
Follow the money
How does a local industry use $100 of income?
Choose a type of business. We use East Gippsland economic data to turn its annual figures into an easy $100 example.
$100
What are we looking at?
Imagine all the businesses in one local industry earn $100.
This section shows what that $100 represents across the industry: what is spent with local suppliers, what is sourced from outside East Gippsland, what is paid in wages, and what is left as business surplus and taxes.
It is not saying a $100 purchase at the checkout is split this way. It is a simple way to show how that East Gippsland industry operates overall.
Think of things like
groceries, clothes, gifts, homewares and everyday shopping
The simple version
$100of industry income is represented by...
$0.00
Paid to local suppliers
Goods and services bought from other East Gippsland businesses.
Goods and services bought from other East Gippsland businesses.
$0.00
Paid to suppliers outside the region
Things the business needs but sources from outside East Gippsland.
Things the business needs but sources from outside East Gippsland.
$0.00
Paid in wages
Wages and salaries paid to people working in East Gippsland.
Wages and salaries paid to people working in East Gippsland.
$0.00
Business surplus and taxes
The remaining value after inputs and wages. The data available to us combines business surplus and taxes, so we show them together.
The remaining value after inputs and wages. The data available to us combines business surplus and taxes, so we show them together.
What does this actually demonstrate?
Different industries connect to the local economy in different ways.
A business that buys more from East Gippsland suppliers sends more of its business spending directly to other local businesses. An industry with a larger wage share puts more of its income into pay packets for people working here.
How is the $100 calculated?
We take the annual East Gippsland figure for each part and divide it by the industry's total annual output, then multiply by 100.
The four amounts add to $100, apart from tiny rounding differences.
Source: REMPLAN Economy, East Gippsland LGA 2025 Release 2. “Industry income” is a plain-English description of REMPLAN Output, which is the gross revenue, sales or income generated by businesses in the industry.
The people behind local spending
Real East Gippsland businesses. Real local faces.
Behind the numbers are the people who open the doors, serve customers, employ people, make things, repair things and keep our towns active.
Why this matters
Buy local is not an abstract idea.
It is the bookshop, bakery, pub, general store, music shop, automotive business, maker and everyday service you see around East Gippsland.
Local businesses keep our towns active.
Everyday choices help support the places and people that make East Gippsland feel like East Gippsland.
Refill and pantry retailEveryday essentials
Pubs and hospitalityMeals and social spending
Bakery and food retailFresh local choices
General storesConvenience close to home
Service businessesLocal customer service
Specialty retailIndependent local operators
Automotive and tyresTrades and vehicle services
Dealerships and servicingBigger purchases matter too
Local makersLocally made products
The takeaway
You do not have to buy everything locally.
Just give local businesses the first look when it makes sense.
One coffee.
One meal.
One present.
One service.
One purchase at a time.
Spend here. It stays here longer.
About the data
How this tool works
This public-facing tool combines resident spending data from Spendmapp by Geografia with economic modelling from REMPLAN for East Gippsland LGA.
Spend figures relate to East Gippsland residents and cover July 2025 to June 2026. Economic scenarios estimate the local output, jobs, wages and value added that could be supported when spending starts with East Gippsland businesses.
The aim is to keep the story simple for residents while still grounding the tool in real data.