This could be the biggest year for Black Friday sales yet
Will this be the biggest year for Black Friday sales yet? These local retailers think so, as they pivot to ensure they profit from the trend.
Business
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Many high street retailers are finding the cost of living squeeze is starting to crimp profits. But the fever already building around this year’s Black Friday sales suggests shoppers are still happy to spend big despite economic pressures.
The National Retail Association (NRA) forecasts Australian shoppers will splash out around $6.3bn between now and the end of December.
NRA director Rob Godwin said the high point for the sector is the increasing popularity of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales event.
“This grows in popularity every year, and is now challenging the traditional Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales period as Australia’s premier shopping event,” he said.
“We will see around 10 per cent of the entire festive season spend take place over those four days.
“That’s good news for shoppers, but also for retail workers and business owners who rely on a strong pre-Christmas sales period to carry them through the quieter months of the following year.”
Mr Godwin said retailers were already starting their discounting cycle to get ahead of consumer demand.
“We are already seeing around 40 per cent of retailers beginning the discounting cycle, in order to get consumers to open their wallets. It’s shaping up as very much a buyers’ Christmas, with great deals already available for those who get in early,” he said.
An Australian Retailers Association spokesman said Black Friday was shaping up to be the biggest sales event this year.
“We think it’s going to be even stronger this year because of the cost of living challenges for retailers and consumers,” the spokesman said. “Retailers will have to work harder with their promotions.”
A recent Shopify survey of 2000 consumers and 350 Australian businesses found 74 per cent of retailers expect an increase in consumer spending. A third of Australian shoppers expect to spend from $170 to $430 during the holiday period.
The survey, conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Shopify in September, confirmed 70 per cent of consumers would take advantage of the pre-Christmas sales to combat the cost of living.
Matthew Herbert, co-founder of brand tracking firm Tracksuit, said Australian shoppers appreciated retailers that offered discounts regularly.
“Shopify’s research mirrors our own data, which shows that nine in ten respondents view those retailers as ‘value for money’, a brand perception that is particularly important in today’s cost of living crisis,” Mr Herbert said.
“It’s an opportunity to deliver value for money to consumers while boosting sales, and fostering longer-term brand loyalty and trust. It’s a win-win scenario where both consumers and retailers stand to benefit,” Mr Herbert said.
So how are businesses making the most of the biggest Black Friday sales season yet? Here is what these Australian retailers had to say.
LSKD – QLD
At the peak of the Black Friday sales period this year, the 150-strong fulfilment team at activewear brand LSKD expects to pack a record 13,000-plus orders a day.
LSKD head of operations Murilo Fabri said the company had received 70,000 orders in the first night of its Black Friday two-week sale period this year.
“We are much more prepared than we have been in the previous years and are 35 per cent more efficient than last year,” said Mr Fabri.
“We have done a lot of system improvements, have a lot more permanent staff on board, and the quality of the work that we do is just exponentially better than last year.”
In the past four years, LSKD has jumped from $1.6m to $76m in annual revenue, with Black Friday a major factor in sales growth.
LSKD founder and chief executive Jason Daniel said the team has worked really hard this year for their community.
“The response to our Black Friday sale this year has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Mr Daniel.
“Our community is why we’re here and who we work for, and our goal was to create the ultimate Black Friday shopping experience for them.”
LSKD head of content Matt Kirby said Black Friday is always a competitive time of year when it comes to social media.
“There’s a bunch of brands, you know, fighting for engagement and attention … it’s really tough to stand out and be seen at this time of year,” Mr Kirby said.
“We stay focused on what we do, and what works for us, and try and create as much energy as we can.”
Orange Sherbet – QLD
Orange Sherbet marketing manager Jessica Naprasnik said the preparation for marketing Black Friday sales is always the toughest challenge with last years sales bringing in 5000 orders on the first day.
“October, November, and December are always our busiest months of the year. I think the preparation that goes into getting that hype there is always tough. Getting our audience excited but also reaching new customers, it’s interesting, cost of acquisition goes up around that time,” Ms Naprasnik said.
“In preparation, we have ensured that we have bulked up our core ranges and bestsellers to take us through the sale period.”
The womenswear fashion retailer typically sees a spike in sales in November by 83 per cent on average, which has increased the YoY by approximately 31 per cent.
“Because you kind of prepped yourself as much as you can we’ve become a bit accustomed to it. We kind of know what to expect. But it doesn’t matter if it’s on sale we still hold ourselves to the same customer experience whether they shop full price, on sale or during a sale,”
Ms Naprasnik said.
The Queensland brand, owned by Ms Naprasnik’s sister Katie, will be running 25 per cent off sales storewide for the pre-Christmas period.
Macro Mike – QLD
Macro Mike founder Mike Kellett said their first day of Black Friday sales this year brought in over 5000 orders.
“We are probably tracking right now to get 30 to 35 per cent growth on last year, which is not too bad in the current economic climate,” Mr Kellett said.
“We have about 3000 orders that we are behind on at the moment, with another 500 to 700 coming in every day. As you can imagine, just about everyone is working around the clock.”
Mr Kellett said Black Friday sales couldn’t happen without the entire team’s effort and the loyalty of customers.
“I think as a brand we have such a big network of customers that we’ve gained over the last seven years and we’ve got a really high number of returning customers,” Mr Kellett said.
The health-food business selling gluten and dairy-free protein snacks, baking mixes, and protein powders has had exponential growth over the past seven years.
“We do maybe seven and a half to ten thousand orders a month just on our online store,” Mr Kellett said.
“Our first year we made around $180,000 in revenue, then in our second we made $650,000 … this financial year we should do just under $20 million.”
Now operating from a state-of-the-art production facility, Macro Mike is providing nutritious protein-filled snacks and recipes across the country.
Bellroy – Victoria
Wallets and accessories brand Bellroy is forecasting a 15 to 20 per cent increase in demand this year for Black Friday sales.
Bellroy head of digital sales Kate Watson said the brand has changed its sales offer this year to make it more accessible.
“Our research suggests that people are buying throughout Black Friday for themselves and then returning in December for their gifting needs,” Ms Watson said.
“We really take the time to consider the promotion, from demand planning right through to campaign planning and customer experience.”
Founded by Hadrien Manloup and Andrew Fallshaw in 2010, the company orients business around typically sees incremental gains per week. The holiday season, however, sees a lot of demand as Bellroy’s products are quite “giftable”.
Ms Watson said preparation for the pre-Christmas kicks off in May to keep up with inventory lead times and supply ample stock.
“We run our supply chain very tightly so we don’t use Black Friday as an opportunity to quit excess stock as we don’t find ourselves in that position. We offer our current range at a discount, so we think about the profile of demand and how we anticipate that will change and plan accordingly,” Ms Watson said.
“In the lead-up to Black Friday, we tease the campaign first to our own audience and then more broadly, and then double down on our re-marketing lists during the promotion to drive conversion. We find this is a more profitable strategy.”
Ms Watson explained the biggest challenge for Bellroy is the general retail landscape’s growing trend of discount-focused promotions.
“That’s a trend we don’t want to follow. We believe in the pricing that we set for our products,” Ms Watson said.
“If we have a product that doesn’t sell well without a promotion, we don’t have the value proposition right so we retire the product and rework it”
“We don’t align with constant discounting to compensate for product market fit deficiencies. Black Friday has the ubiquity for us to participate, but it’s not a promotion we take lightly or replicate at other times of the year.”
Contour Cube – NSW
Contour Cube co-founder Sarah Forrai said the company is expected to see growth in its sales this year after seeing 400 per cent growth in revenue yearly since the business was launched.
“Black Friday is where most of our sales are generated,” Ms Forrai said.
Ms Forrai said the ice facial company’s Black Friday plans are already in motion.
“We have just changed our whole website, and have updated everything … and we are already seeing organic conversions from that already which is good to see. We have all our Black Friday ads ready to go for Meta and (other social media platforms),” Ms Forrai said.
Co-founder Lewis Battersby said last year was their busiest year yet for Black Friday, with the team preparing early for what is expected to be an even more intense year.
“Last year we went so crazy … we completely sold out which we didn’t think was ever going to happen but it was awesome,” Mr Battersby said.
The couple said the team was lucky to get their products to their US warehouses in the year before the sales. This year deliveries and stock have been sent weeks prior.
“Now we can really be focused on making sure people are having the best experience keeping that customer service really high,” Mr Battersby said.
Nakie – QLD
For Tegan, her husband Dean and brother-in-law Jaryd Liebbrandt building a brand that boosts sustainability was always in the front of their minds when creating Nakie.
Dean said Black Friday is a huge component of Nakie’s sales for the year with the outdoor making over 30,000 sales during the Black Friday sales period and is expected to grow on that this year.
“It comes down to even the small things like making sure that we have enough labels … especially when we are probably going to get over 50,000 orders this Black Friday.”
“Everything has to be picture perfect. You really need to be as planned and prepared as possible. We are literally forecasting down to the day,” Dean said.
Dean said the Nakie team prepared for the pre-Christmas season six to twelve months before.
“From a warehouse perspective, we just get such a massive influx of orders. If we launched a week or even ten days before we wouldn’t be able to get our all orders, and we’ve experienced a few years where we’ve struggled to get orders out before Christmas,” Dean said.
“50 per cent of the sales are towards the back end of the year, so we are just trying to manage cash flow and inventory,” Dean said.
“Black Friday sales are bound to be huge this year because people are holding out for a sale in an attempt to tackle their cost of living around Christmas.
“Consumers are probably not spending as much as they would full price. So people are going in a bit earlier to try and get that discounted price for Christmas and they can stock up,” Dean said.
“From a picking and packing perspective, we just want to make sure that everyone in the community that’s ordered will be able to get their Christmas presents from us on time.”
Originally published as This could be the biggest year for Black Friday sales yet
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