How Black Friday went from a one-day event to a $6.8bn month-long extravaganza
What started as a single day of bargains has exploded into a $6.8bn, month-long Black Friday frenzy. But why has the sale window stretched out so far? This is the core reason.
What used to be one frantic day of Black Friday bargains has exploded into month-long extravaganza, with billions flying out of wallets and everyone from fashion giants to supermarkets jumping on board.
Businesses are stretching their sales windows to outrun rivals and to match shoppers’ changing habits and cashflow crunches, experts say.
And it’s not just online and bricks-and-mortar retailers anymore – supermarkets, tour companies and even airlines have all joined the frenzy.
This year’s Black Friday event is expected to generate over $6.8bn, an increase of about four per cent on last year, fresh data from Roy Morgan and the Australian Retailers Association reveals.
On average, Aussie shoppers are predicted to spend about $800 per person.
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Retail expert Roger Simpson said Black Friday was now estimated to be a bigger shopping event than Boxing Day.
“The days have gone where retailers sold their products at full price leading up to Christmas and ran their discounts on Boxing Day,” the Retail Solution chief executive said.
While the official sale runs just four days, Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, the lead-in and follow-on periods now stretch far longer, Retail Doctor Group founder Brian Walker said.
“What began as a single day of post-Thanksgiving deals in the U.S. is now a full-blown November shopping marathon in Australia. Retailers have extended promotions into weeks, even a month,” he said.
“Many Australian retailers bracket (the four days) with lead-ins and ‘Cyber Week’, taking effective promo windows to about two to four weeks, with some pushing into early December.”
Beating rivals to shoppers’ wallets, along with demand timing and logistics, are the biggest forces behind the shift, Mr Walker said.
“Retailers want to get ahead of rivals, capture consumer attention early, and lock in sales before others do,” he said.
“Many consumers delay discretionary spending until they know deals exist; retailers see a lull before the event so they pull it earlier and extend it to smooth flows.
“With more online business and global supply challenges, a longer window reduces risk of stock-outs, shipping bottlenecks or all orders landing in one peak day.”
Queensland University of Technology marketing and consumer behaviour professor Gary Mortimer said Australians were getting far savvier with how they shop.
“They’re not leaving it to the last minute and then getting caught out. They’re planning early,” he said.
“They’re doing their shopping over four weeks in November, maybe the first week of December.
“But really by that stage, the kids break for holidays and the focus then becomes on entertaining the kids, holidays, and then getting prepared for food.”
According to the retail expert, tight budgets were driving this savviness.
“They understand that Christmas is coming and it’s unavoidable, essentially. So how can I still do Christmas on a budget?” he said.
“It comes back to creating a list and planning, really utilising apps and search engines to find the lowest price. Not just jumping onto the first offer you see at 25 per cent off.”
Professor Mortimer said it’s not just retailers getting in on the action, with airlines, tour operators and supermarkets all jumping on the Black Friday bandwagon.
“The usual suspects are out there, Myer, David Jones, the big full-on department stores – but I haven’t seen much in the discount department store space, and I think ultimately, that’s because they’re about everyday low prices,” he said.
“It would be incredibly surprising to find a retailer that’s not doing Black Friday.
“The only segment that doesn’t do that or any promotions is that prestige premium end of the market, like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and R.M. Williams.
“What’s surprising, and it gets more surprising every year, is those very strange sectors that suddenly jump onto it, like travel airlines getting involved.
“Coles is out for supermarkets getting involved in it as well. So it’s become a very important retail promotional event. It gets bigger every year, and it’s here to stay.”
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Originally published as How Black Friday went from a one-day event to a $6.8bn month-long extravaganza
