As recently as a decade ago, Black Friday was relatively unknown in Australia. Fast forward to today and Black Friday is now the jewel in the Australian retail crown. It not only marks the official start of gift-giving season but now eclipses the once-dominant Boxing Day sales. Consumers are shopping earlier, making more purchases and spending more per order than ever.
After another year in which economic pressures put the squeeze on household spending, pent up demand built and was released during the sales phenomenon. With the surge in sales activity starting earlier, there’s a clear trend more akin to Black November than Black Friday.
Shippit co-founder and CEO, Rob Hango-Zada said, “In the last decade, Black Friday has evolved from an online sales phenomenon in Australia to the biggest event in the retail calendar. Its popularity in the last few years has been more pronounced with events like Click Frenzy kicking off the sales season early.
“Through discussions with thousands of retailers on Shippit, our data also supports the rise of this event as one that can make or break the retail sector. The one question that remains is not whether retailers can make up for lost time but whether the deep discounts on sales that have been deferred or brought forward are sustainable long-term.
“What is crucial however is the reliability and speed of the post-purchase delivery experience as a key factor that will ultimately determine whether one-time discount-led shoppers will become lifelong customers of the retailer.”
Based on over 20 million orders (in the weeks before and after the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend in 2022, 2023 and 2024) powered by Shippit, on behalf of over 4,000 retailers, here’s what the company is observing.
In 2023, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend set new records. In 2024, it was bigger again. Australians made 15% more purchases during the four-day window and spent more per purchase, with the average basket value 5.7% higher than in 2023.
The verticals that experienced the biggest order volume increase in 2024 compared to 2023 are kids’ clothing/accessories (355%), food and beverages (320.2%), department stores (164.9%) and machinery, tools and hardware (86.9%). Comparatively, computers & electronics, shoes & footwear, and apparel & clothing, saw volumes increase by 27.4%, 21.8% and 4.9% respectively.
There are now signs that consumers are spending on higher ticket items that they may have been waiting to go on sale – not only based on the increase in both the volume and value of their purchases, but the number of items they added to their basket.
In 2023, Australians added on average, 3.2 items per basket, but that fell to 3 during the BFCM weekend. This reversed a recent trend in 2022 and 2023, in which shoppers were spending slightly less, but adding more items per purchase. This suggests that they were looking for more value-focused items. Now they’re buying fewer, but more expensive items. In 2024, the average item in their basket was worth $43.50 In 2023, it was $38.60.
Daily volumes during the three weeks prior to BFCM, and the four-day sales themselves, in 2024 were, on average 24.7% higher YoY than the same period in 2023. That was after 2023 saw a 29.9% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
Shopify data reveals record $11.5 billion BFCM sales
Shopify data confirms retailers hit a record US$11.5 billion in sales from the start of Black Friday through to the end of Cyber Monday – up 24% from last year with over 76 million consumers making a purchase.
Local merchant sales in APAC grew over 29% and in Australia the number of consumers purchasing from Shopify merchants grew 14% since last year.
Australia was among the top selling countries alongside the US, UK, Canada and Germany.
The top product categories by orders were clothing and cosmetics, dominated by boxer briefs, shorts, lotions and moisturisers, nail polishes, eye make-up and sunscreen, with an average cart size of $199.12 – up 23% from $162 in 2023. This also exceeded the global average cart size of US $108.56 (AU$169.83).
In Australia, the peak sales hour was 9pm AEST on Cyber Monday (2 December) with Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane the top selling cities.
Shopify managing director for Asia Pacific and Japan, Shaun Broughton said, “Against the odds, there’s no doubt that this BFCM weekend proved to be a major success for retailers. Our data revealed a record-breaking holiday as our retailers hit $11.5 billion sales globally.
“While the cost-of-living continues to influence consumer shopping behaviour, the number of Australians purchasing from merchants grew 14% and average cart size grew 23%, suggesting many are becoming more strategic with their spending as they seize value-driven deals.
“In Australia, we also saw a 29% increase in POS transactions, revealing a continued rise of in-store shopping. By taking a unified approach across online and offline channels, retailers have managed to capitalise on evolving consumer behaviours to ensure they capture a significant share of wallet this holiday.”
Stripe sees businesses process more than $47 billion during BFCM
Stripe processed 465 million transactions from Black Friday through to Cyber Monday with a total payment volume of more than AU$47 billion, making it the largest ever four-day period on Stripe. More than 35,000 businesses had their best day ever on Stripe.
In 2024, businesses on Stripe continued to expand their global customer reach with cross-border payments increasing to a new high of AU$4.9 billion across 43 million total cross-border transactions. The average spend of $187 was up 4.3% compared to 2023.
Stripe processed 137,000 transactions per minute, maintaining an API uptime greater than 99.9999% for customers including Amazon, Best Buy, Shopify and Zara.
Stripe Australia and New Zealand managing director, Karl Durrance said, “Over the years, we’ve seen Australian retailers and consumers steadily embrace BFCM sales, growing year on year. This year, while many retailers started BFCM sales much earlier than the actual weekend, between 29 November and 2 December alone, we saw over AU$47 billion processed on Stripe globally. Remarkably, the Australian dollar was the fourth most processed currency by volume, showing how popular of a sales period it has been.”
Adobe: Cyber Monday hits record $13.3 billion in online spending driven by mobile
Based on Adobe Analytics data, consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, up 7.3% YoY, and surpassing Adobe’s initial projection of $13.2 billion. In the peak hours of 8pm to 10pm, consumers spent $15.8 million every minute. Cyber Monday remains the biggest online shopping day of all time, as shoppers took advantage of discounts in categories such as electronics (peaking at 30.1% off listed price), toys (26.1%), apparel (23.2%), televisions (21.8%), and computers (21.5%).
Cyber Week (five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) brought in $41.1 billion online overall, up 8.2% YoY. It was bolstered by record spending online during Thanksgiving ($6.1 billion, up 8.8% YoY), Black Friday ($10.8 billion, up 10.2% YoY) and over the weekend of November 30 and December 1 ($10.9 billion, up 5.8% YoY).
Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst, Vivek Pandya said, “While Cyber Monday remained the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day, year-over-year growth was stronger on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Early discounts were strong enough that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier on during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of big holiday deals.”
On Cyber Monday, toys were a clear winner, with online sales growing 680% compared to an average day in October 2024. Other categories with strong demand included personal care (online sales up 530%), jewelry (478%), appliances (464%), electronics (452%), and apparel (392%).
On Cyber Monday, more than half (57%) of online sales came through a mobile device, representing $7.6 billion in spend (up 13.3% YoY). Back in the 2019 holiday season, just one-third (33%) of Cyber Monday online sales came through a mobile device.
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) usage hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $991.2 million in spend (up 5.5% YoY) as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets.