Appliance retailers, department and music stores were among the beneficiaries of the Black Friday shopping bonanza that hit a high note in November with customers flocking back to in-store shopping.
New eftpos in-store shopping data revealed the Black Friday effect this year spread well beyond buying online technology gadgets, with consumers snapping up discounts on a range of retail categories that included appliances and music items.
Transactional peaks for the period showed department stores recording a 144% increase and household appliance outlets jumping 94% as consumers sought to bag a bargain with many retailers increasing promotion activity around key offers. Retail music stores recorded a whopping 336% week-on-week surge in transactions onNovember 27, as consumers snapped-up discounted musical equipment and accessories.
According to eftpos CEO, Stephen Benton the boost in retail transactions was a welcome return to shopping-as-usual in a post-Covid economy.
“This uptick in consumer spending at local, physical stores is certainly a welcome sign of economic recovery,” Benton said. “In-store shopping is a great way for Aussies to show their personal support for local businesses and this eftpos data shows that browsing is making a big comeback before Christmas.
“These spikes in weekly retail transactions demonstrated that Australians are keen to spend in-store, especially where they want to physically see and feel a product, whether it’s checking-out a new food processor or eyeballing a new television,” he said.
Mobile shoppers dominate BFCM
Mobile traffic during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend was up 19% across the Asia Pacific region with Australia recording a 42% lift compared to the month of October, according to new data from global leader in digital experience analytics, Contentsquare.
While mobile traffic prevailed over the weekend, there was a greater increase in desktop conversions (+109% increase in desktop over BFCM compared to rest of November) compared to mobile conversions (+75% over the same period).
In Australia, the highest number of sessions were driven by search engine optimisation (SEO); however the highest number of buying sessions was driven via search engine advertising (SEA).
Globally, the consumer electronics sector received the highest direct traffic at 27.6% among the industries analysed throughout the period, followed by fashion retail (27.3%) and grocery (24.9%)