Black Friday is here, so we've compiled commentary from some of Australia's leading retail experts, delivering insights on how they're going to trade today and through the weekend.
National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb
The four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday has fast become one of the busiest shopping sprees on the retail calendar.
This year the NRA is forecasting a record spend of $5.6 billion nationwide, which is an 8% rise on 2020’s figures.
Each year shoppers further embrace Black Friday and descend on shopping centres to cash in on bargain sales.
Cyber Monday also continues to grow in leaps and bounds. The pandemic has accelerated the growing trend towards online shopping, which provides consumers with great convenience.
CBD shopping precincts have endured significant drops in foot traffic throughout the pandemic, so we really encourage consumers to head into their respective towns and support these businesses.
But whether online or in-store we really encourage shoppers to support local retailers.
Those operating in areas affected by lockdowns this year have experienced an even more challenging time than 2020 and they really need money flowing through the door.
Myer chief customer officer, Geoff Ikin
Myer’s Black Friday Sales are a perfect way for customers to finalise their Christmas gifting all in one place and take advantage of some great savings, we encourage customers to get in early and take advantage of these incredible offers.
Black Friday is massive event for Myer customers across both online and stores, to kick start this pre-eminent sales event we have started dropping Early-Bird offers, including up to 50 - 70% off in some instances.
There’s no doubt the Black Friday sales are getting bigger and better each year, last year we had record breaking hourly sales and we expect to set new records this year.
Kathmandu chief customer officer Eva Barrett
This is a really important time of year for us and we're so excited to have stores open.
So we're running radio to speak to our customers, we're running paid social, we're running digital, to let everyone know that we're so happy to be back and open.
In leading up to Black Friday we were building upon the brand work that we launched last year, about the benefits of getting out there in nature and we're running our summer campaign.
It's integrated so it's running on TV, digital, radio - fully integrated - and we continued the same as we headed into Black Friday, the summer sale and Christmas period as well.
This is where we really go big in terms of our content, in terms of our production, in terms of our marketing spend.
David Jones director of omnichannel Kate Bergin
The Event of the Year at David Jones is a great opportunity for our customers to get in early and commence their Christmas shopping, with some of our best offers available across fashion, home, beauty.
This year, we are seeing early momentum in gifting, home entertaining and Christmas trim, festive fashion and luxury skincare in the lead up to Christmas.
We expect a buoyant period both in-store and online as Australia and New Zealand continue to emerge from a challenging time and embrace the holiday season.
The safety of our customers, team and community will always be our priority, and we have a comprehensive range of measures in place to ensure we provide a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for everyone.
Little Birdie CEO Jon Beros
After many long months of lockdown, we’re seeing a clear trend towards ‘revenge shopping’, as Aussies are finally looking to treat themselves again after the pandemic.
Many are eyeing up Black Friday to place their order, and Little Birdie is surfacing the best of Black Friday all in one place.
However, with ongoing delivery delays, and risk of popular products selling out, Aussies looking to treat themselves are wise to get in early.
Witchery head of marketing and digital Jennifer Petropoulos
It's all about summer for us - it is our biggest time of year in terms of marketing investment, our campaign line is, 'Hi Summer'.
It's a beautiful, optimistic, very colourful collection that I think reflects the mood of all women around the country in terms of being excited to be out and about with family and friends.
In terms of our plan and how we're bringing that campaign to life, we are going back into outdoor [advertising] we do have our OTV strategy for that as well, there is lots of trade driving around Black Friday and in-store eventing as well.
We really want to give our customers confidence to come back into store and shop with us - it is safe, our teams are prepared.
We also want to provide that incredible styling service and personal service that you really can only get from the in-store experience.
Mon Purse CEO Rob Moore
[Our Black Friday strategy] comes back to the product.
For us, relaunching the brand we're very cognisant that we don't want to be a discount-driven brand, we don't want to over-inflate our unit sales - we don't need to.
We want to build sustainable growth over a period of time.
So it's a great opportunity to relaunch the brand in November being that it's such a busy trading period.
I think our product and our proposition - the personalisation aspect of what we do - it lends itself very much to the gifting period.
So we're very much hoping that the timing lines up nicely, with Christmas on the horizon, that people will see the brand again, see the product again and think of it from a gifting perspective.
PAS Group CEO Eric Morris
We aren't doing anything specific, instead focusing on continuous improvement.
It's all about personal profiling and engagement across the channels and we'll just be focusing on that because I think that's the most important element.
PLUS read insights from MyDeal, Catch and Pitcher Partners too!