The one-day Black Friday sale in November appears to have been cancelled with retailers now stocking up warehouses for an entire month of Black Friday sales in Australia with the ACCC set to track Black Friday discounting of stock following their recent investigation of Coles & Woolworths discount marketing.
Instead of one day or a week leading up to Black Friday consumer electronics and appliance retailers are working with suppliers in Australia for an entire month of Black Friday sales with the likes of Harvey Norman, JB Hi Fi and The Good Guys looking to grow November sales over 2023 Black Friday sales numbers.
Australian retail sales rebounded by more than expected in August after a soft July as unusually warm weather brought forward spring spending, a possible sign consumer is dipping into extra income from recent sizable tax cuts claims analysts.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday showed retail sales rose 0.7% in August from July, when they edged up 0.1%. Analysts had looked for a rise of 0.4%.
Analysts Bain & Company claim that retailers can expect another doorbuster Black Friday–to–Cyber Monday shopping period.
They claim that the Black Friday–to–Cyber Monday period remains pivotal, with Black Friday consistently ranking as a top sales day, claiming the coveted No. 1 and No. 2 spots in recent years.
In Australia retailers admit that by turning the entire month of November into a discount month in an effort to recover lost sales volumes.
According to sources the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission who recently got new funding following the exposure of allegedly fake discounts being used by Woolworths & Coles are set to monitor when products that suddenly get discounted for Black Friday.
Of particular interest will be when the products first went on sale and “Whether retailers are faking discounts, and the number of discounts” claims one insider.
The ACCC is also looking to target deceptive pricing practices and unconscionable conduct by retailers using their extra $30M in funding to expand surveillance of retailers.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled plans to tackle dodgy supermarket practices, with more resources to proactively monitor and investigate supermarket misconduct, as well as pursue enforcement action.
“We don’t want to see ordinary Australians, families and pensioners being taken for a ride by the supermarkets, and we’re taking steps to make sure they get a fair go at the checkout,” Albanese said.
As part of the renewed effort to reign in the sector, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will work with his state and territory counterparts to open up sites for new stores and inject more competition into the market after retailers such as Woolworths and Big W along with Coles were accused of ‘land banking’ key sites to stop the expansion of competitors in key and new locations.
According to Bain & Co this coming Black Friday is a prime opportunity for retailers to refine their promotion strategies, ensure adequate inventory, and perfect in-store experiences with 2024 set to deliver significant growth for some retailers.
One supplier to Harvey Norman said, “Recently we have been asked for margins of 60% by Harvey Norman and when we are dealing with an overseas brand who supplies the likes of Best Buy with a margin between 15 and 20%, we are told ‘this is ridiculous”.
They added “Harvey Norman want 60% on small orders compared to the large orders that the likes of Best Buy place on orders for millions and this is what global suppliers are baulking at in Australia which is why brands are flocking to marketplaces such as Amazon to sell their goods as opposed to dealing with Australian retailers” they claimed.
Last year the Harvey Normans web site was down for the entire Black Friday sales day.
Suppliers are also claiming that retailers are looking to launch in November with 30 and 40% discounts with suppliers taking a hit so that they can recover lost profits.
In the USA Bain forecasts Black Friday retail sales will reach $75 billion for the first time ever, growing by about 5% year over year and outpacing our total holiday season forecast of 3%.
What’s more, around 8% of Bain-defined holiday sales will come between Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year—the highest share since 2019.
This underscores the enduring importance of this key shopping weekend.
Observers in Australia claim that Cyber Monday, has seen its relevance fade, falling out of the top sales days after 2019.
Bain claims that E-commerce growth has slowed, and many shoppers feel that they can conveniently shop online anytime, with deals extending beyond the core Black Friday weekend.
In Australia Amazon has already run a six-day Prime sale with the global retailer set to roll out another 6-day Prime Day sale in October.
This time round Amazon is calling their October exercise the Prime Big Deal Days and it’s going to last 6 days, just like the July sale event.
This event will kick off wat 00:01am AEDT on Tuesday, October 8 and will end at 11:59pm AEDT on Sunday, October 13 with some retailers also set to run discount programs in an effort to match the Amazon Prime day offerings.
