The Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales event was a success for major retailers including Bing Lee, BSR Group, Bi-Rite, Videopro and digiDirect, with TVs confirmed as one of the best performing categories. Despite questions around the impact of this sales event on Boxing Day, retailers are confident the momentum will continue into the New Year.
Black Friday was a “fantastic event” for Bing Lee and once again proved this sale event is becoming a mainstay in the Australian retail promotional calendar, according to general manager, Peter Harris.
“There is no doubt rising interest rates, cost of living pressures and constant negativity about the economy and inflation in the mainstream media is starting to bite with consumers. These are indicators 2023 may be a challenging year for retailers, however consumers did take advantage of some of the great offers available during the Black Friday sales event,” he told Appliance Retailer.
“TV was the clear winner. We had positive results across all categories but with some of the offers on large screen TVs, consumers did take advantage of them.
“I believe Black Friday/Cyber Monday brings some consumers forward from the traditional Boxing Day sales. However, with stock in a much better position than the last few years I still believe Boxing Day will be a great success.”
BSR Group is pleased with how its Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaign performed in isolation and how the entire month of November finished up.
“To come out ahead of last year’s monumental numbers was a fantastic result and credit to the stores and suppliers for helping bring that to fruition,” chief customer officer, Adrian Mitchell told Appliance Retailer.
“We saw positive signs from many of the major categories, however there was a definite appetite for fridges, washers, floorcare and other major appliances. TVs, as always, also proved to be a winner. December has seen much of the momentum continue and we anticipate that sales will remain buoyant right through into the New Year.”
It was a very strong trading period for Bi-Rite with vast growth compared to last year. The month of November continued to be strong with sell through following Black Friday.
“I believe there is some uncertainty with consumer confidence, however, we didn’t see any significant impact on spending during this period. How this transpires in the coming months will be interesting. This year we found consumers looking for better value, they were willing to spend, however, focusing on getting the most for every dollar,” chief operating officer, Hamza Hussein said.
The stand out categories were similar to previous years with audio visual and small appliances both leading the charge in value and units respectively.
“Within our business, Black Friday has become a significant sales event. We have seen sales brought forward in some cases but they have had little to no effect on Boxing Day.”
Videopro has reported solid double-digit online growth for Black Friday week and Cyber Monday.
“We suspect consumers became more selective about their purchases this year. Instead of buying lots of smaller and cheaper products, people chose to buy less of, but higher-priced quality items. Large screen TVs, particularly OLED models, digital imaging and audio components were among the most popular categories,” Videopro director of human resources and retail operations, Massimo Rosazza told Appliance Retailer.
“While we feel that some shoppers have brought forward their Christmas shopping we expect to see strong market activity leading into Christmas and then into Boxing Day sales. The supply chain is vastly better than the same period last year so customers are getting their products sooner without extended wait times on most products.”
Black Friday well and truly exceeded expectations in terms of activity and sales for digiDirect.
“We broke several online sales and company-wide records during our sale activity, which struck a chord with a consumer-base being media-trained to seek and buy deals,” general manager, Haig Kayserian told Appliance Retailer.
“Our top-line sales didn’t feel any great impact from broader economic pressures because the impact was anticipated and remedied in advance by forgoing higher margins in favour of attracting more sales. The fact that even the most minor stimulus we provided in terms of pricing attracted an inundation of sales leads me to believe we would have felt the impact had we not prepared for consumer expectations.”
Consumer electronics was popular across the board, including cameras, lenses, computers, mobiles, Airtags, iPads and associated accessories. “Customers were ready to buy tech if the price was right.”
He added: “We expect a decent Christmas period and strong Boxing Day as there will again be deals for consumers on the hunt for the right products and the right prices. I expect a stronger showing from our physical retail stores than online, which is the reverse of our experience during Black Friday.”