Bargain hunters out for Boxing Day, but Black Friday now reigns supreme

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“I was much more affected by Black Friday than Boxing Day,” Gale said.

“It definitely wouldn’t be shoulder to shoulder like I thought it would be, it would be complete mayhem.”

Although still a major event in the retail calendar, Boxing Day has been dwarfed by the Black Friday period.

Australians were expected to spend $1.6 billion on Friday alone – up 4.3 per cent on last year – and rise to $3.83 billion in the week to December 31 as stores cut prices after Christmas, according to data from the Australian Retailers Association.

However, it is estimated that the country spent up to $39 billion on goods in the month before Black Friday on November 28 this year. almost 7 billion dollars In the three days between Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday.

A tradition of US import sales has morphed into a month-long discount war in Australia, shaping how consumers plan their spending throughout the year. According to research from Monash University.

Fleur Brown, chief industry affairs officer at the Australian Retailers Association, said Friday’s sales attracted more online traffic than in previous years, indicating more shoppers were researching prices and stock levels and developing a plan of attack before leaving home.

“We still see the majority of sales happening in stores, but a lot of that research is happening before that,” Brown said.

“They’re very focused when they walk into the store, much more so than they have been historically when you’re in a mad rush to grab everything that moves.”

It was an approach that worked for Saim Khan, who stayed up until 4 a.m. researching deals on clothes and razors, then woke up three hours later.

“I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited about shopping,” Khan said.

“I’m just waiting for this day.”

The average shopper is estimated to spend $440 on Boxing Day, according to Finder’s survey data.

The long sales window, stretching from early November to Boxing Day, has led the Australian Council of Small Business Organizations to express concern about the damage the prospect of big discounts will bring to small store owners; Some claimed that they had to sell at a loss in order to participate in sales events.

Friday marked the start of the biggest sales period for decades-old independent perfume and beauty store Paint n Powder at Melbourne’s Royal Arcade, but the store’s strength is to offer lower prices for just five days.

Owner Abbie Siegel said there’s a limit to how much small businesses can cut prices without “diminishing themselves” and destroying what makes them special.

“We’re doing our best to compete and stay relevant, but there’s a limit before you can go backwards because you’re trying to compete with the big boys,” he said.

The trader said that within a few hours of the opening, the city was not as busy as on the previous Boxing Days, but he hoped it would increase.

“We were not flooded like other days,” he said.

Boxing Day is still the biggest trading day for Melbourne’s Chadstone, Australia’s largest shopping centre, as it prepares for 160,000 shoppers over 16 hours. This compares with 118,209 on Black Saturday, 112,727 on Black Friday and 75,299 on Christmas Eve.

Chadstone has tripled the number of security guards it normally has to 18, and 40 workers have been deployed to the car park to manage traffic.

A VicRoads employee even spent the day monitoring and manipulating strings of lights on nearby main roads.

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“Boxing Day is definitely the day we step up,” said Mardi Ashkine, the centre’s brand and marketing manager.

“Online is our biggest competitor, but it’s definitely the in-store experience that brings people off the couch and into the centre.”

David Jones was expecting 600,000 customers and 28,000 online orders through its doors on Friday.

Melbourne flagship store manager Monique Murray said Black Friday shoppers tended to focus on Christmas, but Boxing Day discount shoppers treated themselves.

“Our offers were available from Christmas Eve, so our customers were able to view them online,” he said.

It’s a similar story at Myer on Melbourne’s Bourke Street, where employees are preparing to process 355,000 transactions in total and 700 transactions per minute during peak hours.

The biggest discounts were seen in beauty, women’s fashion and home goods.

Melbourne Central is expecting 500,000 customers in the three days from Boxing Day, with more families and larger groups keen to use gift cards than ever before, the centre’s general manager Andrew Drivas said.

“People will move a little slower and enjoy the day,” he said.

This includes Alaina Demiris, who sets out every New Year’s Eve with her young daughter to give away the money they received for Christmas.

“I’m a Boxing Day person, I don’t really like Black Friday because I don’t particularly like online shopping,” she said.

“It’s a full experience, we have lunch and coffee, it’s just a day together.”

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