The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has unveiled that this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday extravaganza will account for more than a quarter of all holiday transactions, with price-conscious customers doing their research to discover the greatest offers.
ARA’s Salesforce report reveals that online shopping traffic is up 5 per cent year on year but has not resulted in a big increase in revenues.
Black Friday’s increasing popularity will provide merchants with a much-needed lift to the holiday shopping season, according to ARA CEO Paul Zahra, even though a more muted pre-Christmas spending period is anticipated.
“The Black Friday sales are the perfect opportunity for shoppers to get a great deal at a time when every dollar counts,” he said.
“As the country continues to be gripped by a cost-of-living crisis, the importance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be more significant than ever before.”
According to ARA research in collaboration with Roy Morgan, shoppers are expected to spend $6.36 billion over the four-day Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend (November 24 – 27), a 3.0 per cent increase from last year.
This Black Friday-Cyber Monday, retailers will also use artificial intelligence to increase sales, with Salesforce research predicting that AI will influence 29 per cent of online orders in Australia.
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