Click Frenzy returns tonight for another frenzied stab at tapping into the spirit of Cyber Monday by bringing together a clutch of retailers – both traditional and pure play – to promote online sales.
Originally created in the United States as an online version of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Thursday and the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season, Cyber Monday has been a runaway success, luring shoppers weary from tryptophan to transact online rather than face the crowds and cold.
The Australian version, however, has not been as successful in its nascent existence, as we wrote about extensively last year.
In the 12 months since Click Frenzy’s debut, which saw its website crash, along with those of its participating retailers, the management has been working hard to improve its technology infrastructure so there is no repeat of that much-ridiculed debacle.
“Customers can feel comforted knowing the site’s technicalities have been improved since the infamous crash in 2012,” said co-founder Grant Arnott. “Pre-subscribers also have an opportunity to avoid the cyberspace stampede with the early bird access.”
In a refreshing moment of honesty in discussing failure, Arnott said Click Frenzy has learnt from its mistakes.
“For those who were part of the inaugural Click Frenzy, it proved a dramatic and controversial start. The site crashed under the strain of serving nearly 1 in 10 Australians online in the first few minutes.
“The demand for our first event was far beyond anything we had anticipated, and we admittedly were caught out.”
Although Click Frenzy was widely regarded as a tech disaster, many participating retailers reported record sales and revenues from the 2012 event, a point Arnott continues to stress.
“That fateful day is well behind us, and the coverage of the crash drew attention away from the true story of Click Frenzy; that it was Australia’s biggest day of online shopping.”
The participating retailers list for Click Frenzy 2013 reads like a who’s who of online players, with a healthy spattering of traditional bricks and mortar chains.
Among those involved in the appliance and consumer electronics industries, there is Myer, Big W, The Good Guys, Dell, Target, Masters, Godfreys, VideoPro, Ted’s Cameras, Radio Rentals (Rentlo in South Australia), Kobo, Appliances Online and HP.
While not directly participating in Click Frenzy, other retailers are conducting their own sales events, some with very similar names, like David Jones’ “Christmas Frenzy”. This parasitic event involves both online and in-store sales, such as 20 per cent off full-priced small appliances and floorcare products, provided the customer spends $100 or more.
When we checked Harvey Norman, Bing Lee and JB Hi-Fi’s websites today, there was no indication that these retailers were involved in Click Frenzy or running a parallel event. There was also no sales information posted on E&S Trading or 2nds World’s websites, though it is worth mentioning that 2nds World is currently giving 1 per cent from every catalogue sale to Children’s Cancer Institute Australia.
Meanwhile, everyone’s favourite spoilsport Kogan has jumped the gun, beginning his own ‘Klick Frenzy’ at 7am.
“While we’re glad to see other retailers waking up to the fact that Australians want a great deal online, shoppers shouldn’t have to wait for a small window of a few hours for the best deals,” Ruslan Kogan said in a press release.
The Frenzy gets underway from 7pm.