Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are forecasted to achieve staggering results for online retailers across Australia this year, on the back of a pandemic that has already driven eCommerce sales well beyond predicted growth.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), online sales were up 76 per cent earlier this year in comparison to the previous year. Throughout 2020, online sales have grown 26 per cent month-on-month suggesting that the upcoming Cyber Monday will be bigger than ever.
Founder and CEO of Gold Emotion, the luxurious, Melbourne-based online success creating 24k gold infused lifestyle products, Ema Cregeen, says this Black Friday will be significantly different to what we are used to.
“As our lifestyles have adapted to the restrictions that a pandemic enforces, so have our traditional shopping habits. This Black Friday will bring about less brick and mortar shopping than previous years, especially in Victoria. People can expect the typical ‘doorbuster’ deals to be available online instead, with less in-store-only deals available”.
Business Insider Australia predicts the 2020 Cyber Monday to once again exceed Black Friday spending, having done so in 2018 and 2019 by $1.2 billion and $2 billion respectively.
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Consumers have grown more reliant on online shopping this year than any other time before. While people are shopping in-store again, online deals will lure shoppers away in favour of maintaining social distancing and accessing bargains not available at brick-and-mortar counterparts.
“This move toward online shopping has already been evident throughout the lockdown months, yet is definitely set to continue despite shopfronts opening again,” says Ema.
Gold Emotion is one online retailer that has experienced remarkable growth in sales throughout 2020, and is preparing for extensive demand over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping craze.
“We have experienced unprecedented online growth, especially across our range of branded beverages including French Champaign, sparkling and Cognac. More surprising yet, our latest release, the Australian-made 24k Pure Gold Botanical Gin, was met with immediate demand by the national market, well beyond what could ever have been expected,” says Ms Cregeen.
Despite the pandemic forcing countless retailers across Australia to become reliant on online sales, eCommerce growth has brought future predictions of heavy online spending into the present.
While the annual national online spending already surpassed the $40 billion mark in September, to which Victoria contributed 36 per cent in that month alone, it is predicted that this growth will continue as we move towards 2021.
And, the good news is that, despite the rough year, according to the Australian Retailers Association Report, Aussies are predicted to spend 2.8 per cent higher than last year on their Christmas shopping, whether it’s online or brick and mortar.
So here’s to a Happy Black Friday and Cyber Monday, may your shopping carts be full and deliveries on time.
