And they’re off. The day after Melbourne Cup Day traditionally kickstarts the Christmas shopping season.
More so since the spectacular success of online shopping events such as Click Frenzy, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Click Frenzy will run from 7pm on Tuesday to midnight on November 12.
According to the recent Power Retail Trajectory Report, the mega online sale is expected to experience a 100 per cent increase in revenues compared to last year, while Black Friday sales in Australia are expected to jump by 50 per cent.
Beauty companies and retailers such as AdoreBeauty, L’Oreal Luxe and Consumer Products brands and Sukin are strongly to the fore and brands across all major categories are bullish about their prospects, says Nick Anderson, sales director, Click Frenzy.
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is also very positive now that Victorian retailers can open again.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade Figures for September reported that overall retail turnover slipped 1.1 per cent.
But all states, except Victoria which was down 10.73 per cent, enjoyed significant sales growth over the month.
NSW posted a rise of 9.45 per cent and South Australia reported a 8.5 per cent uptick in September. Double digit growth was the order of the day in Queensland (+13.07%), WA (+14.95%), Tasmania (+14.1%), Northern Territory (+15.55%) and the ACT (+11.99%).
Online sales accounted for 10.6 per cent of total retail sales in September – up from 6.6 per cent during the same month in 2019
In other optimistic news, the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Report delivered the ninth straight monthly increase to 99.9.
This is the highest level we have seen since the middle of March, notes Paul Zahra, CEO of the ARA.
“Given everything the Australian consumer has had to battle this year, this is a very encouraging report, as we kick off the Christmas shopping season which is when retailers make up to two-thirds of their profits.”