Fashion retailers connected to the Click Frenzy event have spoken out about the site's ill-fated debut.
As previously reported on ragtrader.com.au, Click Frenzy – designed to bring together hundreds of online retailers for a 24-hour online mega-sale – crashed within minutes of launching on November 20, unable to sustain the demand.
Click Frenzy organisers have since issued a statement on Facebook defending the event's response in line with that of "Boxing Day sales", and have now released final figures from the sale, with retailers involved – including Sportscraft, Bonds and The Iconic, also weighing in.
Based on Google Analytics, the site generated 2.6 million total visits, 1.6 million unique visits, and more than 20 million page views, with the most popular categories listed as electrical appliances, brands, and fashion/accessories.
Commenting on the Click Frenzy collapse, director Grant Arnott said he was disappointed but philosophical about the ups and downs of the inaugural event.
“We obviously regret that customers did not have the experience we set out to create in the first few hours, but seeing 20-plus million page views in 24 hours is breathtaking, and we’ve had some retailers reporting record sales results,” he said.
In line with this, Sportscraft has released a statement defending the event and said that despite the widespread criticism, Click Frenzy was an “incredible success” for the Australian retail brand.
According to the Apparel Group CEO Daniel Bracken, Sportscraft’s online sales experienced a "phenomenal" 500 per cent increase on the same 24?hour trading period from the previous year, with huge growth in traffic.
The company also confirmed that 50 per cent of the visitors were new customers to the Sportscraft site.
“The Click Frenzy event has been widely celebrated throughout the Sportscraft business, delivering unprecedented online sales results and an opportunity to promote a positive online shopping experience for Australian consumers,” Bracken said.
“During the same period we also experienced substantial growth in our bricks and mortar channels – a great indicator that our omni-channel strategy is hitting the mark with our customers.”
Online fashion retailer The Iconic, also confirmed a record sale day following participation in Click Frenzy, but said it was “disappointed” that not all Australians could access the deals due to the Click Frenzy site being down for prolonged periods.
In response, The Iconic co-founder Finn Haensel announced that the etailer would be extending its sale period for another 24 hours, with an additional 30 per cent off various styles.
“Our goal with Click Frenzy was to introduce new customers to the wonders of online shopping. We’re thrilled with the customer response and with our site performance, but also disappointed so many customers had a bad experience on other sites... [and] we don’t want these frustrated customers walking away from online retail,” he said.
Local brand Bonds also followed suit and handled the Click Frenzy failure by compensating its customers with an extension of its Click Frenzy sale offer and 30 per cent off men's and women's clothing on the entire Bonds site.
Other fashion companies involved in Click Frenzy included Westfield, Diana Ferrari, Jag, General Pants, Saba and Jeanswest.