You may see Black Friday pop up on your social media or receive emails about it from your favourite brands this week.
Australian small businesses might be wondering whether having a highly discounted sale at this time of year is worth it.
The answer is yes! As this major shopping event is marked in every savvy shopper’s calendar, it should be in every retail business’s calendar too. To put it into perspective, Queenslanders spent about $163 million over the period in 2021.
Find out the significance of Black Friday and how your business can get involved.
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the biggest retail sales day in the United States, traditionally marking the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.
This year it will be celebrated on Friday 25 November (the day after Thanksgiving Day holiday, which falls on the last Thursday in November).
Although Black Friday may have originated in America, Australia has embraced the event with many stores offering money-saving specials and huge promoted sales to attract shoppers for the holiday season. In Australia, Black Friday is now competing with Boxing Day as our biggest shopping event. In fact, in 2020 Aussie relators saw a 13% increase in turnover during the sales period, this record was again broken in 2021 when a further 8% increase was seen.
The Monday after Black Friday is recognised as Cyber Monday, a 24-hour online shopping event created to encourage people to do their shopping online. As most Black Friday sales have now progressed online anyway, it is basically just an extension of the sale.
How did Black Friday originate?
There are multiple differing opinions about how Black Friday came around.
The most common explanation is the term derives from the concept that businesses operate at a financial loss or are in the ‘red’ until Black Friday, when massive sales finally allow them to turn a profit or put them in the ‘black’.
However, another explanation said to be more accurate, originates from the early 1960’s, when police officers began using the phrase “Black Friday” to describe the chaos on the day after Thanksgiving. Many tourists came into the city to begin their holiday shopping and in some years, attend the Army-Navy football game which brought it huge crowds.
Within a few years, the term caught on amongst shoppers and merchants in Philadelphia. Black Friday didn’t grow nation-wide until the late 1980’s when merchants started to spread the red-to-black profit narrative.
Why should your business get involved in Black Friday?
If your business has products or services you can discount for Black Friday, it is certainly worth getting involved in the major shopping event.
Black Friday is becoming increasingly popular for Australian consumers, as more and more shoppers recognise the massive potential for savings and bargains. This is particularly relevant for Australians looking to come by some money-saving specials when doing their early Christmas shopping.
Even if you’re a small hardware store, holding a Black Friday sale could be a great way to reach local bargain-shoppers in your area looking for Christmas gifts or supplies for the new year.
How can your business get involved in Black Friday 2022?
There are numerous ways your business can get involved in Black Friday:
- Be sure to promote your Black Friday sales on social media prior to and during the shopping event.
- Have a limited time, sitewide sale (Discounts usually range from 20-40%). Draw extra traffic to your website using Google Ads.
- Email your existing customers informing them of your Black Friday sale.
- Have free Australia-wide shipping for the sale. More than 70% of Black Friday online shoppers spend their money with retailers who offer free shipping.
- Create relevant gift categories on your website before the sale to make Christmas shopping easier for your customers. For example, gifts for her, gifts for him or gifts for grandparents. These categories can remain on your website all the way up until Christmas.
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