RED HOT BLACK FRIDAY
Shoppers set for sales frenzy
AUSTRALIANS are becoming a nation of early-bird Christmas shoppers and they’re set to prove it this week.
Black Friday, the annual American event dedicated to doorbuster deals, is already fuelling cut-price sales from firms including eBay, DJI, Dell, and Sony PlayStation in Australia, and traditional retailers including Harvey Norman and The Good Guys have pledged to join them late this week.
Retail experts say the trend is pushing the busy Christmas shopping period early, with November now bigger than December for gift-buying, though they warn consumers should ensure they’re not simply being talked into spending more than they planned.
The annual shopping event, which occurs the day after American Thanksgiving and was named for increased traffic to stores, is set to inspire significant discounts.
Retailers across Australia will have sales both online and in-store kicking off on November 23 to mark the event.
As it lies between Thanksgiving in the US and Christmas, it’s become something of an unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season.
The country’s biggest online store, eBay Australia, for example, revealed a series of big discounts around the occasion, slashing $260 off the price of a Dyson Small Ball Al- lergy Vacuum, and $199 off the price of a Microsoft Surface Laptop. More deals are expected to be unveiled from Amazon Australia, Harvey Norman, and The Good Guys this week.
Gartner global retail principal research analyst Thomas O’Connor said the early Christmas discounts were part of a strategy to get consumers into shops before December.
“Christmas spending is shifting to earlier in the holiday season and that’s partly because retailers are launching holiday specials,” he said.
“It’s a conscious decision to try to get consumers to buy earlier and maybe get them to purchase one or two additional gifts prior to Christmas to increase their overall spending.”
Mr O’Connor said the concept of Black Friday had really taken off with consumers last year.
Its success had already seen November become the biggest month for retail sales, he said.
The National Retail Association predicted more of those sales would be online this year, with Australians expected to spend $3.2 billion with internet retailers during the Christmas season — a rise of more than $800 million on last year.
The association’s chief executive Dominique Lamb said time-poor workers were behind the “explosive growth” in online gift buying.
“We find that consumers are looking for convenience and fast, reliable delivery, particularly people who work long hours,” she said.
The National Australia Bank Online Retail Sales Index for September showed homewares, media, and fashion buys were among the most popular online purchases, though toy stores recorded the fastest growth.