Black Friday delivers record breaking results for retail

Myer store front

Black Friday has once again cemented itself as the e-commerce sales holiday of the year, with retailers on multiple sides of the industry seeing sales erupt.

According to data from e-commerce business Shopify, its merchant’s trade on Black Friday this year grew by 80 per cent compared to the year prior, with 65 per cent of sales made on mobile and Australia taking the fourth spot in global sales volumes.

Australia Post said trade more widely had improved 45 per cent, and that it had delivered more than 3 million parcels since Friday Morning, and expects a further 3.1 million parcels to be delivered on Monday. If it does, it will be the biggest day in Australia Post’s history.

“We’ve made the right investments in our network and stand ready today to set a new record – the busiest day in our 210-year history – as we head towards our biggest peak in history,” said Australia Post executive general manager of deliveries Rod Barnes.

Department store Myer also saw trade explode, with chief customer officer Geoff Ikin stating the holiday was “massive” and that it had broken its own online records each hour.

And Myer isn’t alone, according to National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb.

“We don’t have figures yet, but anecdotally there has certainly been quite a surge in terms of foot traffic and people taking advantage of sales,” Lamb told AFR.

Last week the NRA predicted Australians would cough up over $5 billion over the Cyber Week spending period, with online sales having been accelerated by the COvid-19 pandemic.

And, with many Australians having seen limited spending opportunities this year, Lamb is confident retail will get the strong showing the association expects.

“We’re not spending money on travel, which is typically what we do at this time of year. In Victoria, the fact that you’ve had limited time to go to bricks-and-mortar stores means it is about the experience, actually touching and feeling things, because you haven’t been able to do it for so long,“ Lamb told the AFR.

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