Key Points
- Australians are forecast to spend $6.36 billion in retail sales this year for the Black Friday sales period.
- This year Black Friday falls on 24 November and Cyber Monday is on 27 November.
- The two sales events started in the United States.
Despite the cost of living crisis, Australians are forecast to spend $6.36 billion during Black Friday retail sales this year.
This year Black Friday falls on 24 November and Cyber Monday is on 27 November, though many retailers have already started offering deals in the lead-up.
Australians are expected to spend slightly more than last year. The Australian Retailers Association (ARA), in conjunction with market research firm Roy Morgan, predicts people will spend $188 million more than last year as they look for discounts
ARA chief Paul Zahra said that, despite an expected subdued broader pre-Christmas spending period, the growing popularity of Black Friday will give retailers a much-needed boost to the holiday shopping season.
This year Black Friday falls on 24 November and Cyber Monday is on 27 November. The four-day period is expected to be one of the biggest retail events of the year. Source: AAP / James Manning/PA
"Retailers are well aware of the economic pressure being felt across the nation, and this increased competition will drive significant discounts," he said.
He said expectations are that by the end of November Australians would have done more than half of their gift shopping.
What is Black Friday, and where did it come from?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales started in the United States, taking place after Thanksgiving, which typically represents the start of the holiday season and an increase in spending.
Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, leaving many Americans with a free day on the Friday before the weekend.
Retailers took this opportunity to turn that into a sales day to drive profits leading into the holiday period.
Black Friday’s name was coined by policemen in Philadelphia in the 1950s and 60s because of problems such as traffic jams, shoplifting and even violence caused by big crowds from the suburbs flooding the city to shop over the holiday weekend.
It was later promoted by retailers in the 1980s with the connotation it helped shift balance sheets from deficit (red) to profit (black).
The name Cyber Monday was created by retailers in the mid-2000s, and was designed to encourage shoppers to buy online.
Australians spent around $6 billion in this period in 2021 according to Roy Morgan.
How will this year's Black Friday sales be different?
There's evidence from retail spending figures and anecdotal accounts from retail owners that customers are waiting for discount periods, associate professor of finance at the University of Sydney Andrew Grant told SBS News.
He said outside these sales people are likely to spend less on Christmas parties and holidays because of cost of living pressures.
Provisional forecasts by the ARA, in conjunction with Roy Morgan, predict $66.8 billion will be spent in the six-week Christmas trading period from 14 November to 24 December — broadly in line with last year (up slightly by 0.1 per cent or $74,000).
Professor of marketing at the University of NSW, Nitika Garg, told SBS News people will still want to buy things for Christmas, even if their budgets have been drastically cut.
"This year compared to even last year, I don't remember Black Friday deals being this hyped up this early.
"Retailers are jumping on it probably because they're worried about their bottom line as well and they want to take this opportunity to remind consumers to buy and given the cost of living situation they're worried that Boxing Day is not going to be as huge post-Christmas."
What are Australians buying on Black Friday?
Around a third (32 per cent) of respondents told a Choice survey that they were interested in buying clothes or shoes this Black Friday.
Small kitchen appliances would be a priority for 21 per cent of survey respondents, while 16 per cent said they hoped to buy phones and 15 per cent were looking at TVs.
Garg said clothing was a popular gift item because it was so varied in design and price.
But people most likely won't be able to get deals on essential items, only non-essentials, she said.
Grant said retailers could be advertising discount prices that aren't really discounts.
"Some stores have been adjusting their prices in the lead-up to the Black Friday sales.
"They're not really supposed to do that, but quite often we're hearing evidence of firms putting on sale things that would ordinarily be on sale, but they're pretending that the price is artificially lower during Black Friday or they're putting on lower quality stock."
He stressed the importance of budgeting accordingly during sale periods, because people may be tempted by sale tactics and spend well beyond their means.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned customers to watch out for scam websites impersonating high-profile Australian retailers.
Its anti-scam team has detected a "concerning increase" in the number of reports of fake websites that look like genuine online retail stores belonging to big-name brands.
