Shopify merchants in Australia experienced 39% growth in POS sales this Black Friday compared to Black Friday in 2020, led by apparel and accessories, ahead of home and garden, and health and beauty.
Black Friday saw the highest shopping volume during the weekend, with peak sales of more than $3.1 million per minute at 12:02 PM EST on November 26. In Australia, the peak sales hour was on Black Friday at 10:00AM AEDT.
Melbourne shoppers made the most purchases, followed by Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and then Adelaide with an average spend of $158 throughout the sales weekend. More than two-thirds of sales (68%) were made on mobile devices versus 32% on desktop.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday are commonly heralded as the biggest sale events for retailers, and this year, the record sales speak for themselves, according to Shopify managing director for Asia Pacific, Shaun Broughton.
“The success of our merchants in breaking sales records year-on-year showcases the positive impact that entrepreneurs and independent businesses have on the economy,” he said.
“As consumers reimagine the way they shop and engage with brands on various platforms, retail businesses took the opportunity to embrace different channels and show up for customers wherever they are. The future of commerce is here, and it’s an exciting time to see Australian merchants place no limits on the way they reach customers in this evolving space.”
At a global level,Shopify reported record sales of US$6.3 billion from the start of Black Friday in New Zealand through to the end of Black Friday in California.This represents a 23% increase over Black Friday in 2020 when sales by Shopify merchants surged 75% over 2019 driven by Covid lockdowns and is more than double sales on Black Friday 2019.
For the second year in a row, Shopify is fighting climate change during Black Friday/Cyber Monday by purchasing enough carbon removal to eliminate the impact of carbon emissions from shipping on every single order on its platform over the shopping weekend. This amounted to nearly 60,000 tonnes of carbon emissions offset.